A wealthy couple in Florida have paid $150,000 for what a South Korean laboratory claims is the world's first commercially cloned dog. Lancelot Encore is reportedly an exact duplicate of a family pet that died last year. Andy Gallacher reports from Florida: Several years ago Edgar and Nina Otto froze the DNA of their dog, Lancelot. When he died last year, the couple were devastated and they decided to get a clone produced by a South Korean laboratory.
The biotech firm Best Friends Again claim that Lancelot Encore, as they've named the new puppy, is the world's first commercially cloned dog. The laboratory in South Korea, BioArts,includes a scientist that lost his research professorship at Seoul University in 2004, after fraudulently claiming he'd cloned human embryos and stem cells.
The new owners here in Florida say they're happy with their new dog and don't plan to clone any others.
It's thought that between three and four million unwanted dogs are killed at shelters across the US every year.
(From Andy Gallacher, BBC News, Miami)
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