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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. ^ a b Mostrous, Alexi (April 25, 2008). "Seven cloned sniffer dogs named Toppy begin training in South Korea". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  3. ^ a b Peeples, Lynne (Jul 20, 2009). "Cloned dogs sniff out contraband in South Korea". Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  4. ^ a b Kim, Hyung-Jin (25 April 2008). "Cloned sniffer dogs go on show". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
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