$150,000 to clone your dog
A company in South Korea says it has received an order for the world's first commercial cloning of a pet — a request from an American woman to to re-create her beloved dog "Booger."
The Voice of America, in a report today, said RNL Bio will charge $150,000 to clone the California woman's pitbull terrier, using tissue from her dead pet.
The deal was first reported yesterday by the Korea Times, which said the actual cloning would be conducted by Seoul National University, while RNL Bio handled the business side.
The company's chief executive said he expects up to 500 orders within a few years from rich pet lovers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
"There are many people who want to clone their pet dogs in Western countries, even at this high price," Ra Jeong-Chan said. In this particular case, he added, "it seems that (the woman) had a disability and her dog helped her cope with the problem, so she was eager to get a clone of Booger."
He said Booger's owner had refrigerated the dog's ear tissue. Cells were extracted and inserted into ova implanted into eight dogs.
A Seoul National University team created the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, in 2005.
Comments
Am I the only one who saw Pet Cemetery and thinks this is a bad idea??????
Posted by: Marie | February 15, 2008 2:00 PM
omg this is insane whats the point of cloning!!!! the dog won't look or act excatly like the other!
Posted by: mike | February 16, 2008 7:42 AM
Marie, Yes a lot of people think that 'Pet Cemetery' is a bad idea but it costs less money than to burry the animal. Also, you can have another item to remember your pet by.
Mike, Even though the dog may not look or act the same it will be similar to the last dog because its in their DNA. It's just like you might have similar traits as one or both or your parents/grandparents.
Posted by: Wilson | June 23, 2008 8:12 PM
this makes me hopeful i dont know what i would do if i lost my dog. he is like my son and i will now start to save to clone him. dogs are more loyal than humans.
Posted by: Erika | January 7, 2009 6:01 PM
Why aren't we looking at ways to keep the dogs we have already alive for longer. Surely with todays technology, we can find a way to extend a dogs life to at least 50 or 60 years! With the advances in the field of Human Growth Hormones, surely the same growth hormone could be extracted from a dog and replicated, then administered to the animal as a monthly supplement to keep the dog youthful. For as long as possible. Dogs are better than most people. They deserve the benefit's of our modern science also.
Posted by: Jeda | January 28, 2009 11:57 PM
My faithful companion was a lab hound mixed and had the friendliest, most outgoing personality of any dog I have ever known. Although Pappie will be sadly missed and I would more than love to have her cloned but I am just thankful that God allowed her into my life for 12 wonderful year.
Posted by: Mike | April 29, 2009 1:07 AM