Ex-SNU dog breeder gets suspended sentence for fatal abuse of cloned dog

A former dog breeder who worked for Seoul National University (SNU) has been sentenced to six months in 토토사이트 prison, suspended for two years, for mistreating 20 dogs, including a retired cloned sniffer dog, which were used in experiments carried out by the university's veterinary medicine college.

The Seoul Central District Court said Monday it found the 25-year-old guilty of violating the Animal Protection Act.

The breeder was working for a research team led by veterinary professor Yi Byeong-cheon from 2018 to 2019.

The alleged mistreatment of experimental dogs by the SNU research team was first made known to the public after the animal rights group Beagle Rescue Network posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website in April 2019.

The group filed a complaint with the prosecution against Prof. Yi for alleged violation of the Animal Protection Act, but the professor claimed that it was the breeder, not him, who had mistreated the dogs. The professor then reported the breeder to the police.

The prosecution's investigation showed that the breeder had hit and thrown the dogs for no reason, and blasted them with high-pressure water hoses.

Among the abused animals was a retired cloned sniffer dog named May, who starved to death as a result of the breeder's actions.

The sniffer dog had been retired after five years of service at Incheon International Airport.

The professor, who was carrying out tests to develop animals with specific characteristics through cloning technology, is currently undergoing a separate trial for using May for his research without gaining approval from the university's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.