Would you clone your pet?!?

aonb

Interesting article in FOCUS magazine:

Would you clone your pet?
Are you a dog owner that couldnt live without your beloved pooch? Thanks to a South Korean biotech company you may not have to. Seoul-based Sooam Biotech Research Foundations is launching its service in the UK by holding a competition for one dog owner to have their canine companion cloned.
Sooam usually charges around£60,000 for each duplicate dog and claims to have successfully cloned more than 200 animals for wealthy Americans and a number for the South Korean Police Force.
According to Sooams website: "Cloning technology is possible at Sooam for any dog , no matter what its age, size and breed"
To produce the clone, a Sooam scientist will take a skin sample from the target dog, inject DNA from that sample into another dog's ear cell thats been emptied of DNA, then implant the embryo into the womb of a surrogate.
However, many critics have spoken out, stating that current cloning techniques are unreliable. It can take more than 100 attempts to produce a healthy animal and even then conditions in the womb and other environmental factors can have a dramatic effect on the resulting dog's appearance and personality.
(It finishes with this paragraph) "Will the cloned family dog be the same as the original? Unfortunately not - while genetically identical, the environmental factors will always be different. A cloned Rover will not be the same Rover, but Rover version 1.1 - a unique dog rather than a carbon copy"

I thought this was a really interesting concept - until I read that there was only 1 surviving dog of over 1000 cloned embryos implanted into 123 dogs. And was flabbergasted to read that the environmental factors would mean that the cloned dog was only genetically identical. So, what would be the point of spending £60k??

(There are images of the first cloned dog - called Snuppy - if you google it, and there is an interesting article on

www.newscientist.com/.../dn7785-worlds-first-canine-clone-is-r...‎)

Even if you won the lottery would there be any real point in having your beloved dog cloned? (apart from producing a probably identical looking dog)

SingItOut

As much as I desperately miss my labrador Frankie and past pets I wouldn't have wanted them cloned. Any time they died it would be too heart breaking because cloning cuts their lives short. Honestly I think if I had've had they had of been cloned i think it would be an insult to their memories, they were the originals and should stay like that as much as I miss them. And as they article said it can take tons of samples to get a healthy animal so Id hate to think what happened to all the unhealthy ones

baby and crumble

Thing is you can't clone personality, and that's the real marker of a pet. You'll get one that looks exactly the same but I doubt it would act the same.

kylith

In a way I'd love to clone Tegan. She had such a bad start in life; she's so sweet and gentle but so nervous and afraid of everything that I'd kind of like to see what she'd be like with a loving upbringing. But then it wouldn't be Tegan, would it?

rannerap

It's their personalities that make them who they are. I love their little quirks. I would just let their memory live on and give a new rescue pet a loving home rather than try to copy the original

Inexile

No. Much as we miss our original two they were unique. I could if I tried try and find a dog that looked them them but it wouldn't be them and neither would their clones.

Anyway think of the amount of dogs you help that are currently in dog pounds and shelters up and down the country with £60K.

Zapperzy

kylith wrote: »

In a way I'd love to clone Tegan. She had such a bad start in life; she's so sweet and gentle but so nervous and afraid of everything that I'd kind of like to see what she'd be like with a loving upbringing. But then it wouldn't be Tegan, would it?

This.
My fella would be the perfect pet if I could iron out a few issues probably caused by poor socialisation as a pup, but then it wouldn't be charlie personality-wise if he had been brought up differently. As well as that the clone would always sort of live in the shadow of it's predecessor, I don't think I'd be able to properly grieve and move on either if I was constantly looking at an identical clone yet with a different personality.

BetterThanThou

I definitely wouldn't, I could find a dog that looks identical for a fraction of that price. As you said, environmental factors are what mostly make the dog. And being a clone it would likely have health problems. Some people might think it's a nice idea, but I just don't think it makes sense. Though, I do think research like this is important, as it could eventually lead to bringing extinct animals back from the dead.

cocker5

TBH, no…. I adore my guy but he is who is he due to his “up bringing” and lifetime situations / experiences so to speak.
So if he were cloned and I got the exact same pup again (even with the same personality), he would grow up to be different, im older now, slightly different lifestyle etc… so he would in turn be slightly different. hope that makes sense. I’d still end up with a smashing dog but he wouldn’t be the exact same.

BUT if I could get a magic potion where he would stay at the age he is now and live with me until we’re both 70 (in human years), where he wouldnt get older and suffer or get health complications etc – well then absolutely, can’t imagine our lives with him ….

Plus there are tons of amazing dogs out there crying out for a forever home… that’s the next place we will be once my guy goes (after the sedatives have worn off and when john of gods kick me out that is).