Six genetically identical puppies began work for South Korea’s customs agency, sniffing out drugs. They all share the same name, TOPPY (tomorrow & puppy combined) because they were all cloned from the same superb sniffer dog named Chase (a Labrador Retriever in Canada).
The dogs went through an 16-month training program and are now hard at work sniffing out drugs at Seoul’s Incheon International airport and at border crossings in Korea.
While I can understand that cloning in this case may be extremely helpful given the small percentage of sniffer dogs born with extreme natural abilities, where do you draw the line with cloning pets?
The first dog clone, Snuppy, was produced by the scientists at Seoul National University. The same team of scientists that have cloned Toppy, Toppy, Toppy, Toppy, and Toppy.
I love my dogs, but can’t imagine ever having one of them cloned. Death is a natural part of life – for all living things.
Would you ever want to have your canine companion cloned?
Vote or leave us a comment!
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References:
- BBC – Cloned sniffer dogs begin duties
- BBC – S Korea trains sniffer-dog clones
- Baltimore Sun – Meet Toppy, Toppy, Toppy, Toppy and Toppy
- Nat Geo Video: Dog Cloning Sparks Debate
4 Comments
I think cloning is just wrong! A life is special and shouldnt be taken for granted, if cloning becomes mainstream then people wont realise how special their pooch is, knowing fine well that they can have a “copy” of their dog whenever they want….
I agree that it is very wrong and just inhumane, but at least they were cloned for the basis of being productive and helpful dogs, rather than just being sideshow attractions.
~ Vom Bullenfeld German Rottweilers
we do lot of horrible things to animals for the benefit of humanity…
Why wouldn’t we want to benefit humanity? So what if it means doing some bad things to animals.