American Woman Pays South Korean Firm to Clone Pit Bull
I’m not sure if these scientists have just never broadened their educations to the understanding that every creature is a combination of Nature AND Nurture or they are so patently greedy that they are knowingly selling undeserved hope to a grieving woman. Either way, just cloning Booger will not guarantee that he will be the help to her that she wants.
I have no doubt that Booger II will look like Booger but all the training and experience it took for Booger to be such a help to her will NOT be part of the cloning. I feel very bad for this woman but for $50,000 she could adopt another helper Pit Bull and give the rest to help train dozens of others to help more people.
Thanks to FT.com for this article.
Ground-dog day as woman pays $50,000 to clone dead pitbull
By Anna Fifield in SeoulPublished: February 16 2008
The prospect of having nine lives is no longer the sole preserve of cats.
In a happy mix of science and commerce, man’s best friend can now live again and again – if the owner is besotted and rich enough.
The South Korean stem cell scientists who produced Snuppy, a cloned Afghan hound, have received the world’s first commercial order to clone a dog and are now preparing to recreate Booger, a pitbull terrier from California. It is an order they hope will lead to the production of as many as 500 born-again pets each year.“We received an order from an American woman to clone her dog, Booger,” said Ra Jeong-Chan, chief executive of RNL Bio, the Korean company that will help Seoul National University stem cell scientists create Booger II. “She is disabled and has trouble walking, so Booger was a big help to her and she wants him back.”
The price for cloning a dog is set to be $150,000, but because this is the first order, and because the woman agreed to allow the event to be publicised, she is only being charged $50,000.
An SNU team of scientists produced the world’s first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005 but the achievement was overshadowed by the sensational revelations that Hwang Woo-suk, the leader of the team, falsified research suggesting he had created the first human stem cells. However, the subsequent investigation into the production of Snuppy found that the dog was a genuine clone.
Scientists are now preparing to send cells from Booger to Korea, where they will be placed into surrogate mother dogs, meaning Booger II may breathe again in October.
Mr Ra said he expected his company to receive orders for specialist dogs such as drug and bomb sniffer dogs. He added that capacity will be increased in the hope that 100 “companion dogs” can be cloned from next year, and eventually 500 dogs annually.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
My dad told me about this. I don’t like cloning. See this for my reason: This puppy, This Sheltie
The link isn’t about cloning your dog, but it’s about trying to get a dog that looks just like your last one and how that’s bad.
The “lure” of cloning when it comes to someone’s furry family member can be attractive–in thought and wish.
Personally, I had a furry family member who was my soul mate and I loved her deeply. We shared a life together for 17 years. There is a part of me, in thought and wish, that would love to have another Snuffy.
I have often wondered what I would do if I ever saw another dog that looked like her and was available to rescue or adopt. And, like a fantasy wish, I’ve pondered the “promise” of cloning with regard to Snuffy.
But, it always comes around to the same facts: what shaped Snuffy’s life and soul and spirit can never be reproduced! All the elements that created the Snuffy I love are a once-only event in time. The world in which Snuffy experienced life cannot be recaptured–that history cannot be cloned.
I suppose there would be some elemental, genetic disposition to a basic personality in the created clone–such as is passed down from family member to family member. But even twins, brought up together, dressed alike, treated alike and exposed to the world in the same time period are not the same person “on the inside” no matter how many similarities they share.
The very essence of a beloved dog cannot be recreated or transplanted–they cannot clone a spirit-soul, only the vehicle that carried it.
Cloning does not produce the same animal! Each is different and unique with their own soul, just like humans. I love german shepherds and if my beloved Loki dies, I’ll get another. It won’t be him, as he is one of a kind, just like your dog! Why doesn’t this woman just request another service pit? What a waste of money! Go save a poor shelter dog who will give you all the love you could want.
btw I disagree with Cookie above. There is nothing wrong with loving a breed and admiring its looks. I have a gorgeous GSD and I have seen similar ones and yes, I’d get another when he’s gone. Maybe look like him, maybe a different one. Whatever it looks like it won’t be Loki. But I will forever love the GSD and will always have one.
I didn’t say that it was wrong to admire a dog’s looks. I said that getting a dog that looks exactly like your past one is bad. You can get the same breed and even the same color, but try to get one with a different coat pattern so that you won’t expect it to have the same personality of your last dog. If you try to get a dog that looks exactly like your last one, you may find yourself resenting it because it doesn’t have the same personality. THAT, is what the article was saying.