A K-9 that sniffed for survivors buried under the rubble of the World Trade Center terror attack is already gone but its five clones will continue its heroic legacy of saving lives.
A cloning company produced five genetic copies of the German shepherd named Trakr after its death in April and the clones were presented to the heroic dog's former handler James Symington in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The animal cloner BioArts International cloned Trakr for free for Symington as prize for his winning the firm's essay-writing contest last year. The essay is about finding the best dog worth cloning.
Symington's winning essay told Trakr's two-day non-stop search-and-rescue efforts at Ground Zero, including finding the last survivor under 30 feet of debris.
Symington, a retired Canadian police now living in Los Angeles, told reporters after receiving the clones that he will train the five puppies as search-and-rescue dogs.
Trakr died in April from a degenerative brain disorder.
