South Korea clones expert sniffer dog
Friday, 25 Apr 2008 13:32
South Korea has cloned one of the country's best sniffer dogs for customs control
Science In Focus
Click here for top tips on making environmental practices work for your business, on inthenews.co.uk. Full Story
South Korean officials in customs control have decided to use dogs cloned from one of the best canines at his job.
The Korean Customs Service announced that they are training seven Labrador puppies who were cloned from an expert drug-sniffing dog.
The decision follows difficulties to find dogs who are good at detecting drugs and explosives.
Each dog cost about $60,470 (£30,483), according to the Reuters news agency, but it is estimated to cost about twice that to breed and train a normal sniffer dog.
Less than a third of dogs are deemed good enough to make the grade.
"This all came about from the question of how we could secure dogs with superior qualities at a low price," commissioner of the Korea Customs Service Hur Yong-suk told Reuters.
The seven dogs are named Toppy; a mix of the words 'tomorrow's puppy'.
They were shown off yesterday playing with their trainer Kim Nak-seung.
"They have a superior nature. They are active and excel in accepting the training," Mr Kim told the Associated Press news agency.
"If I look at them very carefully, there are now some small differences in their facial features. But it's still hard to tell."