The world’s first cloned dog will become a father next month in the first breeding of cloned canines, South Korean researchers said on Friday.
Snuppy, the cloned Afghan hound, successfully impregnated two cloned bitches of the same breed through artificial insemination, the Seoul National University (SNU) said.
Ultrasonic tests showed the foetuses were all healthy and they are expected to be born between May 16 and 20. “If the births took place, it will mark the first time that cloned dogs have reproduced successfully,” professor Lee Byung-Chun told the Korea Times. But the professor’s comments sparked angry reaction from university authorities. “This is a breach of regulations against releasing experiment results to the press before academic papers,” said Kook Yang, the research department head. SNU bans researchers from releasing study results before publishing papers since Hwang Woo-Suk, a cloning expert, was caught faking research into stem cells. Lee, a former colleague of Hwang, has led his own research team since Hwang was indicted in 2006 for fraud. Hwang, once hailed as a national hero, is now on trial.