South Korea Deploys Cloned Drug-Sniffing Dogs

Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that six puppies cloned from a Canadian-born sniffer dog in late 2007 have reported for duty to check for drugs at Seoul's Incheon International Airport after completing a 16-month training course. The customs agency says clones help to lower crime-fighting costs as it is difficult to find good sniffer dogs. Only about 30% of naturally-born sniffer dogs make the grade, but South Korean scientists say that could rise to 90% using the cloning method. The puppies, each called 'Toppy' for 'Tomorrow's Puppy,' are part of a litter of seven who were cloned from a 'superb' drug-sniffing Canadian Labrador retriever called Chase at a cost of about $239,000. 'They are the world's first cloned sniffer dogs deployed at work,' says customs spokesman Park Jeong-Heon. 'They showed better performances in detecting illegal drugs during the training than other naturally-born sniffer dogs that we have.'"

Retirement

[Eddy Luten]

And when they retire they'll make for a tasty snack [wikipedia.org].

Are they taking preorders?

[dangle]

'Cause I'm ready for my own Semi-Autonomous Guard Unit.

Re:Standing still

[KlaymenDK]

Until they can improve them in lab retrievers, it'll just be a scientific exercise.

Re:Standing still

[L4t3r4lu5]

Take your last sentence, add some preamble, and post it to your congressman.

That kind of sentiment is wasted here.

Re:They are naturally born

[Mushdot]

They also knew at that stage the cloning would be a success. The scientists came in in the morning and found the test tube rack had somehow moved closer to the Morphine cupboard.

Joke?

[Chysn]

So, a drug-sniffing dog and a bomb-sniffing dog are having a drink after work, talking a little shop. Drug-sniffing dog whispers, "Hey, see that woman over there? She's got a gram of cocaine in her purse."

Bomb-sniffing dog says, "See that man over at the bar, the one with the duck on his head? He's about to have a really bad day."

Re:Retirement

[daem0n1x]

What do you mean, unclean? I always wash my pigs before I eat them.

Re:Standing still

[somersault]

As far as I know this is the 1st time a Mammal has been cloned simply to reproduce a disierable set of genetic traits

It has been done before. Admittedly it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away [wikipedia.org].

Re:Standing still

[CarpetShark]

Did you know they can't even reproduce without artificial insemination?

Like most slashdotters then.