World's first cloned wolf found dead in zoo

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- The world's first cloned wolf was found dead last week at a zoo in Seoul where the animal had been cared for, zoo officials said Tuesday, adding the cause of death remains undetermined.

Snuwolf, one of two wolves successfully cloned by veterinary professors at Seoul
National University (SNU) in 2005, was found dead on Aug. 26 in a terrarium at
the Seoul Zoo, according to the officials.
The zoo and the SNU team performed an autopsy the day the female wolf's body was
found, but the exact cause will not be determined until full results are
available in about a month, according to the officials.
"Snuwolf had been in good condition," said Prof. Shin Nam-sik, a lead member of
the team that first cloned the animals. "Wild animals often die suddenly, and we
will know the cause of death when the results of the autopsy come out."
"There was no external wound," said Shin, citing the possibility of bacterial
infection.
Shin refuted claims that technical problems in the cloning process had caused the
death. "We should not exaggerate the incident, as many animals die suddenly," he
said.
Snuwolf and her sister Snuwolffy were created by transplanting fertilized eggs
with implanted somatic cells to a surrogate wolf. Snuwolffy is alive and is
currently being cared for at the Seoul Zoo, officials said.
Their cloning was confirmed a success by an SNU panel despite the team's critical
mistakes in research data. The same team cloned three male wolves in 2006.
Lee Byeong-chun, another lead member of the cloning project, was a key staff
member to disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-seok, who was put on trial for
fabricating lab results on human stem cell research.