First commercially cloned pet dog

An America woman blinked back tears of joy on Tuesday as she cuddled puppies cloned in South Korea from her beloved former pit bull terrier.

"This is a miracle," said Bernann McKinney from Hollywood in California, hugging five clones of Booger at Seoul National University’s veterinary school.

RNL Bio, the company which arranged the re-creation of Booger through his refrigerated ear tissue, hailed the event as the world's first commercial cloning of a pet dog. "This is my first birthday present. These guys gave me the best present," said McKinney, a movie scriptwriter who turns 58 on Wednesday.

The five clones were born from two surrogate mothers on July 28, said Ra Jeong-Chan, CEO of RNL Bio which has launched a commercial dog cloning service in cooperation with the Seoul National University (SNU) scientists.

"They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person," McKinney said, recalling her years with Booger who saved her life by chasing off a ferocious mastiff which bit her severely.

She said she would consider training some of the pups as service dogs for the handicapped or elderly when they arrive at her home in September. McKinney said she had contacted South Korean experts after a US company failed to re-create Booger.