Cloned Pets

I saw an article in the paper this morning http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502012.html about a lady (from the US, I think) who used a South Korean company to clone her dead pit bull. Now, I'm not sure, exactly, how this all worked, she must have had DNA taken from the dog prior to its death and frozen or something? Anyway, this company charged her $50,000 and cloned five pit bull puppies from the dead dog's DNA. When she first saw the five puppies (being nursed and cared for by a surrogate dog), she exclaimed, "Yes, I know you! You know me, too!" In other words, she was assuming that, because these puppies were cloned from her dead dog, that they WERE her dead dog come back to life (times five).

I guess this same company successfully cloned a dog several years ago and have been "perfecting" their technique ever since. Now, they are offering this service to anyone willing to pay the price (and who happens to have DNA on hand of whatever pet they want cloned).

As you can imagine, this procedure (and its implications) have animal control and animal rights advocates in an up roar. Animal control because they fear that this will mean more pets bred as opposed to people going to the shelter to adopt a stray and animal rights because they say this is an unfair thing to hoist on the cloned animal. What's unfair? That the owner will automatically assume that the cloned pet(s) are, in reality, their dead one. Which of course, despite the shared DNA/genes, they can never be.

It takes more than DNA/genes to make up a living being. There is also environment, circumstances, and shared experiences. This woman may think these five puppies are "identical" to her dead dog, but, how can they be? Already, everything is different, including her. SHE'S not the same person she was when she got the first dog, how could she be? She's not going to have the same shared experiences with these puppies as she did her first dog. And, these dogs have four siblings that the first one didn't have.

So, frankly, I think it's sort of sad that this woman did this; obviously in hopes that she'd get her dead dog back. It's not fair to the new dogs, it's not fair to the ones in a shelter that she may have adopted instead, and, it's really going to end up a real disappointment to her when none of the five puppies turn out to be anything, really, like the dog that died. So, it's not fair to the dead dog's memory, either.

I think if I'd been able to clone Nigel and Clyde, they would have been pretty pissed off at me! Of course, I never would have, even had I had the chance, because no cats could ever replace Nigel or Clyde, not even ones that shared their DNA. I think it's more a natural progression of things to grieve what you've lost, hold memories of the loved ones close to your heart, remember, laugh, cry; but, move on. And, when you're ready to really move on, go find a completely new and different creature to adopt, cherish and shower with love and affection. Something that might otherwise not have a chance at a happy life.

That's just Mrs. B's opinion. What do y'all think?

Mrs. B