A California women is the initial customer of a South Korean company that claims to be the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service. Bernann McKinney received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her late pitbull Booger.
His frozen cells were brought to RNL Bio of Seoul, South Korea, in March and nurtured before formal cloning work began in May, the Associated Press reported. RNL identified the puppies as Booger's genuine clones and reconfirmation tests are being conducted by Seoul National University scientists.
RNL eventually plans to clone about 300 dogs a year and may even clone camels for customers in the Middle East. The company charges up to $150,000 for dog cloning, but McKinney will pay only $50,000 because she's the first customer and helped with publicity, the AP said.
''It's a miracle!'' McKinney repeatedly shouted when she saw her cloned puppies at the laboratory, the news service reported.