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South Korea Clones Drug-Sniffing Dogs

by Evan Shamoon on July 21, 2009 at 10:22 AM


While Kim Jong-il continues to lead North Korea like a hyperactive preschooler whose parents can't find his Ritalin, South Korea is knocking off designer handbags, churning out electronics like nobody's business, and now, according to USA Today, using cloned, drug-sniffing dogs to patrol its airports.

Unlike the U.S. (where German Shepherds get to sniff all the drugs), South Korea has put six genetic duplicates of a highly capable Labrador Retriever to work at three customs checkpoints -- not including the one at Incheon, the country's primary international airport. The Korea Customs Service says that using clones could help reduce costs when it comes to finding capable drug-sniffing dogs; only an approximate three of 10 naturally born, agency-trained dogs are up to snuff.

In this case, the six dogs came from a litter of seven. (The last of them only failed to qualify because of an injury.) The dogs were cloned in 2007 and, oddly, were all named "Toppy", which is apparently a combination of the words "tomorrow" and "puppy" (and about as intimidating as calling your pet mountain lion "Garfield").

The dog(s) went through a rigorous 16 months of training to get their position(s). [From: USA Today]

Tags: animals, cloning, dogs, drugs, genetics, science, south korea, SouthKorea, top

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