Cloning Pets

I have mixed feelings about cloning pets. My emotional side cannot bear the thought of losing one of my beloved fur kids, so of course the possibility of cloning them is quite tempting. The thought of being able to prolong relationships with my dearly loved pets is enticing.

At the same time, my logical side jumps up to remind me that it is not possible to replace a departed pet. The cloned copy would not have identical personality or those charming quirky traits that endear them to us so deeply. It could be very disappointing when the cloned pet did not relate to us in the same way as our original pet, and perhaps difficult to form a bonded relationship.

In addition, while the positive genetic qualities are duplicated, at the same time all the abnormalities would follow suit. Therefore, I sit here and think to myself, "would I want to replicate something that is more than likely doomed to a medical condition that is both lethal and painful?" I think not.

You may wonder what has sparked my recent interest in cloning. The other day, an article appeared in the New York Times about a South Korean team, which has recently successfully cloned 17 rare Tibetan Mastiff dogs, a breed popular in China.

Tibetan Mastiff

The dogs were born in April shortly after a request was made by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Leading the team was Hwang Woo-suk who created the first known dog clone in 2005, the same scientist who had submitted fabricated research data on cloning human stem cells. Reading the article got me to thinking about the pros and cons of cloning.

The cloned Mastiffs took two months to produce from pregnancy. The success rate has not been released as of yet, however. The 17 dogs were cloned from a male and female through six surrogate dogs. DNA evidence was provided by tests conducted by another institute. The Kogene Biotech based in Seoul did not take its own samples from the dogs. The Institute provided those tests.

The results of an unscientific Internet poll connected with the story, of the 9,116 people participating, 48% would not clone their dog, 41% would and 11% were not sure.

While the cloning procedure may benefit endangered species, in relation to our pets, the negatives outweigh the positives as far as I am concerned.