Pet Cloning: The Pursuit to Reproduce
by BC Doan on Feb 18, 2008 with 24 Comments
At a hefty $150,000 dollars, you can have your deceased pet cloned, and back in your arms again.
Do you love your pet? If you do, would you be willing to spend $150,000 dollars to have your beloved pet clone?
For many people, a pet is a family member, and a few even prefer to have a pet over having a child. A pet gives you unconditional love. A pet is always there to greet you when you come home. A pet does not “bark” back at you if you scold it for a bad behavior. It is pretty close to a perfect relationship. How far do you want to go to preserve your pet?
Surely, we love our pets, but how many of us are willing to send away $150,000 dollars to have him/her clone after he/she has departed?
According AFP news released on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 a South Korean firm received its first order to re-create a pit-bull terrier for a US woman. This is the world’s first commercial cloning. The California woman had saved her beloved pet’s ear tissue for this purpose.
The actual cloning will be carried out by Seoul National University, and its CEO predicts at least another 500 orders from rich pet owners in the Western countries in a few years.
Questions to Ask Yourself
- Is this ethical to go against nature?
- Is this right to re-produce a life?
- Is this acceptable?
- If we keep cloning the pet we lost, how is that affecting our feelings since we do not have to mourn for our pet anymore?
- If we can clone a pet, why can’t we clone our dead relatives?
- Where do we draw the line? At what point can we stop?
- If we can clone a “good” pet, we can also clone a “bad” pet, so how do we decide? Who will decide which is good and which is bad? Or who is good and who is bad?
- Is too much of good things, bad?
- What will happen in the long run?
- Using the same DNA over and over again, is that in our future?
If our world is going into this direction, where if we have money, we can pay to get our beloved pet, child, parents or lover cloned for one reason or another; then it is so wrong!
The universe was created with the cycle of life and death. Can we just respect the law of nature, and allow ourselves to live in harmony with it? Can we stop improving where improvement is not needed? Cry for your pet, mourn for your pet, but then let him/her go.
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Published in: Pets
valli | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
My God! $150,000 dollars to have a clone of the pet….. unbearbale amount.
Lucy Lockett | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
First the pets and then the people! I do not think it is right but it is scary thought to contemplate.
b. radley | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
wow! $150,000.
great article.
Alexa Gates | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
yikes! 150,000 dollars? I think that’s a little too much!
louie jerome | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Interesting info. It scares me, as Luck Kocket says, first pets, then people.
chikoos | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Just shows we haven’t learnt the true art of living. And that is to let go when the time comes.
Francie | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Great article Icy, This is a very controversial subject, it is brought up at times at home. I actually live with someone that is in favor of. Everyone has their views and opinions, personally I can’t imagine, yes, it is a scary thought!
Judy Sheldon | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Life’s cycle has been created by God. I don’t feel that we have the right to tamper with it, as you said mourn your pet, let him or her go. Besides $150,000 puts me out of the ball park anyway. lol
Great job, Icy.
KathySpring | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply
If my beloved kitty passed whos my baby and i thought cloning wasn’t so crazy i would but cloning is like a mad scientist
but 150,000!!!!!!???????????
Darlene McFarlane | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply
It is a great article, Icy. Very interesting. I am with the majority on this one, I don’t believe in cloning for any reason.
e | Feb 20, 2008 | Reply
This woman had her arms amputated and this little stray pitbull took care of her for ten years and was a SERVICE DOG who took off her shoes and socks, answered the phone, got her out of the bath tub, took her clothes out of the dryer, and pulled her wheelchair. He was all the family she had. He survived a hurricane and flood with her, (a near drowning) and fought a landmark civil rights case in court for the rights of handicapped people to go into public places with their service dogs. Everywhere he went he spread Love around; He went to VA centers and gave love to men who had lost their legs in wars, and he went to old folks homes to give out cookies and gifts at christmas. He did programs for school children to educate them as to what a service dog is. He was so gentle that he slept with a little kitten, and little children could ride him or pull his ears, with no reaction, because he had such a sweet spirit. Everyone who met him, loved him. This woman is dealing with her intense grief by cloning an exceptional dog, and selling her home to pay for it. This is truly a unique dog which DESERVES to ‘live again”–or at least his genes. A MOVIE AND BOOK ARE EVEN BEING WRITTEN ABOUT HIM (to give other handicapped people courage to get through thier own trials, by reading this gentle lady’s
touching story about their life together). Lacking the casts, you IGNORANT people are a bunch of judgemental HYPOCRITES for criticizing her so harshly. Cloning a dog is no different than a childless couple , desperately wanting a child, and using in vetro fertilization by creating their future child in a test tube–but later having a beautiful baby to hold in their arms and love. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS and Get a HEART!
Tarra B. | Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Very interesting article, thank you
Ruby Hawk | Mar 30, 2008 | Reply
An interesting article but a wierd notion. We are becoming sillier every day I do believe.
anon | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
why people are opposed to this massive step forward in
our scientific history I don’t know, but unfortunately we share
the world with a lot of stubborn people afraid of change
usually you’ll find they are religious not surprisingly;
no scientist should be told what they can or can’t do in their research, thats just impeding technology that could help us all
and about those claiming “moral” grounds I mean ask yourself what are morals, morals are a set of rules you’ve set for yourself and you’ve defined them as right but who are you to say what is right and what is wrong.
I think as I’ve said previously people like this are just afraid of change
Montana | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
This is a great article thank you so much. Iam doing a hetic school project about cloning and I need a reason for why it should be funded. This helped me SO much. Thank you for all the comments too. I have used some as quotes. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Iam giving credit to the people who wrote/commented so no worries. Also to keep a dog healthy/alive for a year it costs about $1675. If you do the math and multiply that by 12 years[the average life expectency of a dog] you get $20,100. Thats still a lot of money for a dog and people who want it done well find a way to get it doneif there capable of taking care of the dogs regular exspenses. Who knows, maybe pet health insurance will cover it?
Lupus | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
to the commentator labeled “e”:
DO NOT DISRUPT THE CYCLE OF LIFE.
it does not matter of the quality of life being reborn. If this continues, people will start to make up tons of excuses for bringing ridiculous things back to life i.e. goldfish because “they lovingly comforted and old lady”.
the purpose of life is to die, so don’t kill the purpose.
I think YOU are the hypocrite. All things will die eventually, and people have been living with it for YEARS, so —DEAL WITH IT.
Lupus | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
also, thank you Icy for the interesting topic. very controversial.
I was also doing a school project on this (a speech) and this was what I needed to show people that cloning is bad (for an argument). Thanks.
Happy Mothers Day To All Women | May 11, 2008 | Reply
Happy mothers day to all the women to did it the old fashion way.
I think all hot chicks should be cloned. I would also like my dog cloned.
One should also think when we think of cloning and selective breeding. What do you think Hitler wanted?
margo | Oct 4, 2008 | Reply
i never heard of pet cloning. it makes me want to cry. i had a pet cat i loved for 13 years. i am confused of pet cloning. i am so confused. i tried hard to find a pet that looked like her to adopt and i just cannot find one like her. i guess it is best to leave her alone and grief and let or meet her in heaven my pet cat that loved me and life and i loved her greatly. now if i was rich i’d do that selfish thing to clone her like she never died. i had cried for 8 months of her not in my life. i did not want to let her go. she was my baby and she was sick and old. i wanted to find the same cat personality that i loved so much too. did not know my heart would rip into tiny pieces the day she was put to rest by the dr. i wish i waited a few more days to hold and thank her for being in my life. she was my only friend in life my loyal cat.
Larry | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
I had three dogs and they all died of old age. I miss them terribly. But if I had $150,000 laying around I would give it to a no-kill shelter or pet rescure service in their names.
Get real here.
Marlene | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
i just a kid and i love my dog but to tell the truth thats just for wierdos cause if i were to clone my doggy it wouldn’t really be my real dog it would just be a fake although it would work if ur childs pet and they didn’t know and u clone quickly so its good but bad
jason (18) | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
i dont think its unethical reason being of it was about a loved one (which some people say is thier pet) most people would do it. say your favorite uncle or aunt died i bet most people would give anything to have them back. say your mother or father or both died and the child would be an orphan if there were clones of them ready they could easily intergrate them into a young child’s life with them possibly being none the wiser which would save the child so much grief and heart ache in the future. yes we all eventualy die but think of it not as going against god or the rules of nature and think of it as a life saveer or changer.
Diana | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Cloning is really simply adding existing DNA into a new cell…nature does it all the time anyway, when twins are born. Although all scientific experiments have their cons (a new social order for cloned people maybe?), the human race can adjust and progress, just like we always do.
If cloning was something that goes against nature, then humans wouldn’t be able to do it. Because it can be done, and done successfully, then I see no reason to not clone. Its simple human progression, and to argue against it is kinda useless. I mean, fundies argue that the morning after pill goes against god (OMG NOT THAT!) because it stops the conception of a baby, and yet millions of woman use it anyway.
In a few years of this technology, people won’t even bat an eyelash anymore. Plus, if it was something that really damaged us, don’t you think someone might pick up on that, and eventually correct it?
Diana | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Oh, and also…yes. All things die. Are you implying that a cloned cat is THE SAME EXACT CAT that its cloned from? That if I clone a living cat now, and then it meets up with the clone, that some space/time paradox would open and the universe would be destroyed? No. Both cats are their own animal, just sharing DNA, like siblings. They might not even have the same personality, since nature AND nurture both contribute. One cat might have been a friendly animal, the clone might be shy, withdrawn, or even feral if the environment is harsh.