Britain's first cloned dog is born

Britain's first cloned dog has been born after a £60,000 test tube procedure, a television programme will reveal. The tiny dachshund puppy, weighing just over 1lb, was born in Seoul, South Korea, at the end of last month following a competition advertised in the UK offering the procedure free of charge. The dog was copied from a 12-year-old pet called Winnie, owned by Rebecca Smith, a cook from west London. "She is the best sausage dog in the world, she is desperate to be cloned. The world will be a better place with more Winnies in it. Everyone who meets her loves her," Smith told the Channel 4 programme to be broadcast on Wednesday. Smith told the programme that she acquired Winnie when she was 18 years old and the pet had helped her to overcome the eating disorder bulimia. The company that carried out the procedure, Sooam Biotech, has already created more than 500 cloned dogs for owners around the world but "mini Winnie" is thought to be the first British dog to be cloned.