Who's a Good Clone? Six K-9 Copies Join Beijing's Police Force

Tom Arnstein | Nov 25, 2019 5:30 pm | Add a comment | 458 reads

Whether by accident or by design, nine thousand years ago, humankind began breeding a best friend. The wolves of the wild were domesticated into a more docile canine called dogs, who would not only keep us company, but also do our bidding. Then, through careful selection, these dogs were molded into a valuable workforce of haulers, herders, and any number of other job descriptions. Eventually, they would also be bred to do police work.

Usually, this process involves breeding two dogs with desired traits in hopes of creating an even better dog. But what if you already have the perfect dog? Sure, its genes can be passed on through breeding, but only in combination with a less perfect specimen. For Beijing’s municipal police force, however, that is no longer the case. As Beijing News reports, six dogs cloned from two model K-9 Belgian Malinois have graduated from the puppy police academy and were introduced to the public in a ceremony last Wednesday. Their DNA is more than 99 percent identical to their donors.

Heretofore, animal clones were hardly anything more than scientific novelties or reincarnations of the pets of the absurdly wealthy. Now, the Beijing police force along with private laboratory Sinogene have proven that the genetic journey that started with Dolly the Sheep now has value in the real world – and it had better have value, because the estimated market price of USD 50,000 per clone, which is nearly as much as the total cost of training for one K-9.

China’s first cloned police dog, Kunxun, was born in December of 2018 and officially joined the force in August of this year. This new batch marks a different milestone, namely the first police-dog litter in the world in which four puppies were birthed. Two more were birthed from a separate surrogate mother.

Adorably, each of these ruff and rugged investigators have also been given a name that includes the character 科 kē in recognition of their contribution to science. With their perfect pedigree and all of the world's eyes watching, now, all that remains to be seen is if, like their clone parent, these pups turn out to be very good boys.

Photos: Beijing News