The axe has fallen on AgResearch’s controversial livestock cloning facility at Ruakura amid reports only 10 per cent of animals involved survived. But applied biotechnologies general manager Jimmy Suttie said this morning the Hamilton facility – capable of containing up to 200 animals – had closed in September because stem cell research showed more promise. Reports released by the Crown research institute under the Official Information Act show unacceptable death rates of laboratory animals forced AgResearch to end its cloning trials.