Updated

A South Korean team led by disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk is claiming to have cloned coyotes for the first time.

The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation said Monday that eight coyotes were born in June as part of its efforts to clone various species of animals in cooperation with South Korea's Gyeonggi Province.

The province says it will raise the coyotes but will later donate them to zoos at home and abroad.

Hwang scandalized the international scientific community in 2005 when his breakthrough human cloning research involving embryonic stem cells was found to have been faked.

Hwang and his former colleagues also created the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005, and that achievement was independently confirmed.