Dogs cloned in South Korea get to work in a narcotic squad
June 27th, 2011
Anna Chan: Some dogs are destined to catch Frisbees, others to sniff out the bad guys. At least that is what South Korea’s customs officers believe after seven puppies were cloned to sniff out drugs at an airport. They were cloned from one of the best drug-sniffing dogs in South Korea. The puppies were born last year in October and November, and are copies of a Labrador Retriever named Chase, who is still serving in the airport. They have been trained to sniff out the drugs almost since birth and are showing strong signs of possessing the genes necessary to combat narcotics trafficking, according to the Korea Customs Service. [Hur Yong-suk, Customs Commissioner]: “This all came about from the question of how we could secure dogs with superior qualities at a low price.” The seven dogs share the same name, “Toppy,” which is short for tomorrow’s puppy. They usually react when their collective name is called, and a scanner will be needed to read the microchips embedded in their ears to tell them apart. Some trainers said the differences between normal dogs and Toppies are small, as they are too young to be determined. [Kim Nak-seung, Dog Trainer]: “Normal puppies tend to play a lot, but these cloned dogs are proactive and well-behaved. They also understand trainers’ instructions easily and take courses well.” The customs services called on a laboratory affiliated with Seoul National University that produced the world’s first cloned dog to make copies of the still-active Chase …