Toppy

Toppy is the name given to seven cloned[1] Labrador Retriever dogs, born in late 2007 to three surrogate mothers.[2] They were the world's first cloned working dogs, and were used by the Korea Customs Service.

Each Toppy is a clone of a successful sniffer dog in Canada.[3] The Toppy dogs needed 16 months of training to qualify to work for the South Korean Customs Service.[3] Only 10-15% of dogs are genetically predisposed to being effective detection dogs.[4]

The project cost ₩300 million (about US$240,000), and was funded by the Government of South Korea;[2] it was led by Lee Byeong-chun, a former aide to Hwang Woo-suk, who fell from grace after his stem cell research turned out to be fabricated.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Cloned sniffer dogs begin duties". BBC News. 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  2. Mostrous, Alexi (April 25, 2008). "Seven cloned sniffer dogs named Toppy begin training in South Korea". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  3. Peeples, Lynne (Jul 20, 2009). "Cloned dogs sniff out contraband in South Korea". Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  4. Kim, Hyung-Jin (25 April 2008). "Cloned sniffer dogs go on show". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
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