S Korean scientists cloning explosive－sniffing police dog

SEOUL， Dec。 24 （Xinhua） －－ A group of South Korean veterinarians said Thursday they are in the process of cloning an explosive－sniffing dog， "Quinn，" who is best known for finding the body of a missing child on Jeju Island in 2007。

The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation， led by the disgraced stem cell researcher Hwang Woo－suk， said they were successful in extracting a somatic cell from Quinn in October and an impregnated surrogate dog is scheduled to give birth in the first half of next year。

The research institute said the Jeju Provincial Police Agency made an official request for the cloning of the sniffing dog， and all procedure will be free of charge。

"Quinn is the most outstanding sniffer dog for the Jeju police， having performed well in 181 missions，" a spokesman for Sooam was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap。

A breed of a German Shepherd dog， Quinn is credited for finding the body of a missing elementary school student in Jeju island after 20 minutes of being dispatched， quickly ending a search that involved 30，000 police officers。

The police said the dog received only three days of rudimentary training before the search， far－exceeding the pace of normal dogs who require four to five months to grow new cognitive abilities。

The foundation created the first cloned dog， Snuppy， in 2005， and has been considered as the leader in the cloning field。

However， Hwang， a principal member of the team， took a hit on his reputation when most of his work turned out to be fraudulent and was indicted in 2006 on charges of fabricating his lab work。