World's First Cloned Sheep Put to Death

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 15, 2003

World's First Cloned Sheep Put to Death

Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, was put to death after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, her creators from the Roslin Institute said on Friday.

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Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, was put to death after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, her creators from the Roslin Institute said on Friday.

The decision to end the life of the 6-year-old Dolly was made after a veterinary examination confirmed the lung disease, a statement from the institute said.

Dr. Harry Griffin of the institute said on Friday that sheep can live to 11 or 12 years and lung infections are common in oldersheep, particularly those like which are kept indoors.

"A full post-mortem is being conducted and we will report any significant findings," Griffin said.

Dolly's body has been promised to the National Museum of Scotland and will eventually be put on display in Edinburgh, the institute said.

Dolly was born July 5, 1996 in a research compound of the Scottish institute, and she created an international sensation when the achievement was announced on Feb. 23, 1997.

Researchers had previously cloned sheep from fetal and embryonic cells, but until Dolly it was unknown whether an adult cell could reprogram itself to develop into a new being.

The Dolly breakthrough heightened speculation that human cloning inevitably would become possible.

Dolly, a Finn Dorset sheep named after the singer Dolly Parton,bred normally on two occasions with a Welsh mountain ram called David, first giving birth to Bonnie in April 1998 and then to three more lambs in 1999.

In 1999, scientists noticed that the cells in Dolly's body -- cloned from a 6-year-old sheep -- had started to show signs of wear more typical of an older animal.

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