MyDogsBlog.com

Edgar and Nina Otto of Boca Raton, Florida paid a California company, BioArts International, $155,000 to clone their beloved Labrador retriever, who died from cancer a year ago.

The Otto’s had their Labrador, Sir Lancelot’s DNA frozen before his death. Sir Lancelot’s DNA sample was sent to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in Seoul, South Korea, which provides cloning services to BioArts. Researchers there put the DNA into an egg, and Lancey was born November 18, according to BioArts.

The Humane Society of the United States released a statement expressing their position against commercial animal cloning.

Given the current pet overpopulation problem, which costs millions of animals their lives and millions in public tax dollars each year, the cloning of pets has no social value and in fact may lead to increased animal suffering,” the organization said on its Web site.

For those looking to replace a lost pet, cloning will not create an animal identical to the one who is gone; cloning cannot replicate an animal’s uniqueness. Cloning can only replicate the pet’s genetics, which influence but do not determine his physical attributes or personality.

The dog clone wars have begun.

Tags: clones | dogs

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