Cloned Cow Dies Mysterious Death

K N O X V I L L E, Tenn., June 5 -- The third cow cloned from adult cellsborn in the United States was found dead in a pasture andresearchers don't know how it died.

Born nine months ago, Millie, short for millennium, also was thefirst clone of a Jersey cow, a top milk-producing breed, and thefirst using standard cell-culturing techniques.

Millie had been out in a pasture at the University ofTennessee's Experiment Station in Knoxville. She was found deadthere early Monday.

Except for a slight variation in the size of one her kidneys,the cow showed no visible signs of abnormalities, said veterinarypathologists Philip Bochsler and Malcolm McCracken, who performed anecropsy.

Death Is a Mystery

"We don't know why she died," said Patricia Clark, aspokeswoman for the university's Institute of Agriculture.

Researchers were checking to see if the animal was the victim ofa lightening strike or ingested a toxin, including poisonous weeds.No other animals at the station appeared to be affected.

"Other than the fact that we knew she was a clone, she was justlike any other young cow," McCracken said. "At this point, wecannot conclude why she died."

Millie passed her last veterinary exam on April 30. "She washealthy and fine and happy," Clark said.

"As far as the cloning procedures themselves, I doubt veryseriously that it will change the program," Clark said. "But itis a setback, no doubt."

The first two cloned cows born in the United States wereproduced by researchers at Texas A&M and the University ofConnecticut.

Researchers have said that cloning offers the cattle industry apossibility for increased reproduction from prized bulls, increasedmilk production and greater resistance to disease.