AT first sight, the two dogs waddling down the streets of West London look like any other miniature Dachshunds. While one is sleeker and shinier, a bit keener on the lead, the other shows the telltale signs of age: an endearingly droopy belly and greying nose.

    Mother and daughter, you might think, for you would never guess the truth. One-year-old Mini-Winnie is the carbon copy of 14-year-old Winnie.

    Meet Britain’s first — and, as yet, only — cloned dogs. Scientists in a South Korean lab took a skin sample from the older hound to help create a genetically identical embryo. And the result was Mini-Winnie.

    Cloning is — and has been for decades — highly controversial, with experts warning it can produce horrible abnormalities when tried on animals. Not to mention the ethical issues raised by the fact that what can now be so easily done with a dog must be getting increasingly easy to do with humans. While cloning of human babies for reproduction is illegal in the U.K., there is no legislation prohibiting animal cloning.

    Two weeks ago, the European Parliament voted for a ban on the cloning of farm animals, but there was no mention of pets.

    So, while there is nothing to stop people bringing cloned pets into Britain, a clinic is yet to set up here offering the service.

    Contrary to the nightmarish visions the word “clone” evokes, Winnie and her genetic replica look the model of two healthy dogs as they both snuggle up on their cheerfully dog-mad owner’s lap.

    Rebecca Smith, from Battersea, won a competition to have her beloved Winnie copied for free (the process usually costs £60,000 (US$92,514)) in return for appearing on a TV documentary charting the process.

    After the initial blaze of publicity that greeted the puppy’s return to Britain last August, the killer question has to be: “How alike have they turned out to be?”

    After all, that was the reason for the costly procedure. “Winnie is my rock,” says Rebecca, “I want her to live for ever.”

    (SD-Agencies)