Animal House

Wishing everyone a happy holiday, and a New Year resplendent with Vivi sightings ...

Denise

Korean scientist linked to scandal says he created first female cloned dog

South Korea (AP) — A former collaborator of disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk claimed Monday that he succeeded in cloning a female dog after last year’s breakthrough of creating the world’s first cloned dog, which was male.

An Afghan hound, named Bona (left), was born on June 18 using cloning technology, said Lee Byeong-chun, a veterinary professor of Seoul National University. Two more of the same breed were born later, he said. DNA tests showed that the three female dogs are clones, he said.

“This was a process that must be done to see if a cloned dog has reproduction capabilities,” Lee told The Associated Press.

Lee was a key member of Hwang’s research team, whose purported breakthroughs in creating human stem cells through cloning were found to be fake. But the team’s success in cloning the world’s first dog, Snuppy, was confirmed.

Lee, who had been suspended from his university for three months over the stem cell scandal, was the main scientist in the dog cloning. He has been on trial, along with Hwang and other former team members, on charges of misappropriating research funds. If he gets a prison  term, he could lose his job as professor of the top South Korean university.

The paper on cloning the female dogs appears on the Web site of journal Theriogenology.

Photos (c) Getty Images and Bloomberg

Other than new lows achieved in interpersonal communication in the comments section of this blog, nothing much to report.

Search coordinator Bonnie Folz writes:

<<I’ve got nothing new to report on the Vivi search as everything has been the same these past couple of weeks. There arel feeding stations being monitored, flyers, posters and door hangers as well as faxes and emails to businesses in the area being distributed. Canvassing of the park and neighboring blocks still being done. Couple of calls trickling in,but nothing substantial to go on.  .. Just no real news to report.

The Vivi Team is also trying to help Ticket, the 11-year-old whippet missing in Georgia, as best we can from far away, with ideas, thoughts and suggestions from what Team Vivi has learned and experienced these past 10 months. 10 MONTHS TOMORROW!!>>

For out-of-towners who have never been to Forest Park in Queens -- at almost 1,300 acres, the borough's third-largest park, and the location of the most recent Vivi sighting -- here are some selections from Newsday's photo library.

Empty tables and grill at Picnic Grove in Forest Park on a rainy Labor Day afternoon in 2002.

(Newsday Photo/ Ken Sawchuk)

The Queens Symphony Orchestra perform in concert at the George Seuffert Bandshell in 2002. 

A man sits on a bench reading in late morning sun at Forest Park on an unusually mild Febuary day in 2002.

(Newsday Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr.)

David Harris of D&D Stables in Forest Hills (70th Road off Metropolitan Avenue) leads a group of riders through a trail in Forest Park in August 2002.

(Newsday Photo/Julia Gaines)

Local schoolchildren attend a Read A Thon at Forest Park's Seuffert Bandshell in May 2001, and draw pictures about a story they've just heard.

(Newday Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr.)

A young visitor to the park cools off while playing at the fountain in the children's playground at "The Overlook," the easternmost section of  Forest Park off Park Lane in Kew Gardens in 2000.

(Newsday Photo/Julia Gaines)

Assistant gardener Kathleen Scullion looks at a forsythia bush in one of the cold frames outside Forest Park's greenhouse in 2000.

(Newsday Photo/Julia Gaines)

Arborist apprentice Melvin Barron of the Bronx takes a test at Forest Park to qualify as a tree climber and pruner at New York City parks in 1999.

(Newsday Photo/Al Raia)

DAY 292 THE SEARCH FOR VIVI

Show dog search now a game of cat and mouse?

BY DENISE FLAIM
Newsday Staff Writer

December 4, 2006

Reports of Vivi's death are greatly exaggerated.

That's the feeling among some searchers still looking for the champion whippet, who bolted from her crate Feb. 15 after competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show the day before.

In late November, searchers invited Oklahoma-based pet detective Karin Goin to canvass the Glendale neighborhood in southwest Queens where Vivi sightings were called in regularly until late summer. Unable to find a recent scent with her tracking dogs, Goin concluded that the brindle-and-white show dog, who looks like a miniature greyhound, had likely died. In short order, The Associated Press dubbed Vivi an "urban legend," and the dedicated knot of volunteer searchers considered disbanding.

Then, according to searcher Rosa Chile of Hollis, last Monday a motorist on Park Lane South in Glendale's Forest Park reported almost hitting an emaciated white dog that was trying to cross the road. Recognizing the dog from media reports, but a bit fuzzy on the details, the man jumped out of the car and shouted "Fifi!" The startled dog looked at him, then darted into the park.

"We've got this lineup of dogs," said Chile, referring to a montage of a dozen canine "mug shots" that she shows to people who have claimed to see Vivi. "And when we showed him, he pointed right to the dog and all he kept saying, all excited, was, 'That's it, that's it, that's it!'"

Much as she would like to believe Vivi has resurfaced, search coordinator Bonnie Folz of Howard Beach is cautiously optimistic. "It's very possible that was her, and she has found a good place to hide," concluded Folz, who has compared Vivi to the mob - just when she thinks she's out, the dog pulls her back in.

"But we'd really like some more sightings to be sure."

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

On Saturday, Pat Murkland -- an Irish wolfhound fancier and Southern California-based Vivi supporter -- was thumbing through the catalog at the much-hyped Eukanuba/AKC National Championship when she came across Vivi's name.

The annual show is nicknamed the Invitational because it invites the top 25 dogs from each breed to compete. And this year, Vivi was included among the whippet invitees, though her absence was certainly not a surprise.

"Hurray for Vivi!" writes Pat in an email. "She was ranked No. 13 of 25 in whippet breed wins, according to the Canine Chronicle. The qualifying period was from Oct. 12, 2005, to Oct. 10, 2006. So she got ranked based on what she won between mid-October 2005 and Westminster 2006, and finished over others who competed throughout the remaining months of the qualifying period, which is the majority of the 2006 show season.

"Of course," Pat concludes, "the biggest win of all time would be getting hugged by her family again."

Vivi blogger Mila Bennett sends this request:

<<Some of us Team Vivi members have been trying to help the owners of Ticket, a senior whippet that went missing in Georgia on October 1. Ticket's people live in Florida with their son living in Georgia, and Ticket escaped when they were all gathered for the son Jared's wedding.

Jackie Levin has posted today on your Vivi blog about Ticket and our request for help. The other bloggers have expressed a desire to help and we thought it might be helpful if you would post his lost flier on your blog.

Clicker here for Ticket's flier: Download ticket_flyer_11_06.rtf  .

We have mailed hundreds of fliers to businesses and private residences in Cedartown, Ga. His lost information is aired daily by Clarence at the local radio station. (Jackie calls and Clarence is so kind and wants Ticket found and is happy to announce or have Jackie announce the information). A lost ad has been in the local paper for weeks, and there have been sighting calls coming in to Jared, but he works during the day and attends school at night so his following up on sightings is very difficult. He needs help.  We would like to know if there are any bloggers or viewers in that area of Georgia who could lend a hand.

Can you help? I have attached his flier ... Isn't he a handsome fellow?>>