They reveal that in 1998 they tried to kidnap the dolly sheep, but they couldn't distinguish it.

The apprentices of the kidnappers were environmentalists who were against animal cloning.

There are stories that seem to come from the plot of a Monty Phyton movie. And the one revealed in the book Seeds of science is one of them. The author is Mark Lynas, a veteran environmental activist, who has revealed in his pages that in 1998, he and four colleagues tried to kidnap Dolly the sheep.

The four militants planned the kidnapping almost as if it were a chapter of Mission Impossible. An accomplice (whose identity has not been revealed) gave them false authorisations to access the Roslin institute facilities, where the famous sheep lived. The purpose of the command was to carry out a spectacular act that would serve to put on the front page of the news their rejection of animal cloning.

Lynas and his companions entered the facility posing as workers and hid inside until night fell. Then, when the Roslin institute had already emptied itself of people, they headed for the place where Dolly was. But there was something they hadn't calculated.

Dolly wasn't alone. There were several dozen other sheep with her, and the apprentices of the kidnappers were unable to distinguish her from the rest. And they were carrying a picture. At the time we really understood the meaning of cloning very well,"says Lynes,"we don't know whether it was cynicism or candor worthy of a better cause.

The fact is that the four kidnappers left without any woolly hostages and ended up forgetting their failure in a nearby pub.