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  Newsmakers   09 Jan 2018  UK’s first cloned dog Minnie Winnie expecting litter of puppies

UK’s first cloned dog Minnie Winnie expecting litter of puppies

THE ASIAN AGE
Published : Jan 9, 2018, 10:47 am IST
Updated : Jan 9, 2018, 10:49 am IST

Owner Rebecca Bourne, 34, is thrilled since her original dog Winnie died last year at the age of 15 after being hit by a car.

Scientists reproduced the sausage dog’s DNA in a litter borne by a canine surrogate mum. (Representational Photo: Pixabay)
 Scientists reproduced the sausage dog’s DNA in a litter borne by a canine surrogate mum. (Representational Photo: Pixabay)

Britain’s first cloned dog, a dachshund called Minnie Winnie, is expecting puppies.

The pups are due next month, four years after she was conceived in a test tube in a £60,000 procedure in South Korea.

Owner Rebecca Bourne, 34, is thrilled since her original dog Winnie died last year at the age of 15 after being hit by a car.

The children’s author won a contest to have her “best friend” Winnie cloned in 2014. However, the pups are not clones.

Speaking to The Sun, she said that she is over the moon and she is sure she’ll see something of Winnie in them.

She further added, “Minnie Winnie is growing and having cravings for human food, including tacos. To know Winnie’s memory lives on is so comforting.”

Rebecca ­— who featured her dogs and son Wilbur, two, in a book The Wilbies go to the Moon ­— chose a pal’s dachshund Otto as the dad.

A scan has revealed at least two pups.

Scientists reproduced the sausage dog’s DNA in a litter borne by a canine surrogate mum. Minnie Winnie is a spitting image, even down to a kink in the tail.

Tags: dachshund, dog, cloned dog. litter, britain, viral and trending