Would you want your pet cloned?
July 7th 2009 06:58
Bernann McKinney and one of her five cloned pit bull puppies
In August 2008 a Californian woman named Bernann McKinney sold her house to raise US$50,000 to buy five puppies, and declared the deal a "miracle".
The puppies were the world's first commercially cloned dogs, produced by a South Korean company named RNL Bio. They were genetically identical to each other, cloned from the frozen remains of an ear of Bernann McKinney's original dog which had died two years earlier of old age. He was a pit bull terrier. His name was Booger.
The puppies were “perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here," McKinney said. “I had to make sacrifices and I dream of the day, some day, when everyone can afford to clone their pet, because losing a pet is a terrible, terrible loss to anyone,” she said.
So, a woman swaps a house for five copies of a pit bull named Booger, a faithful companion of 10 years. That's her right, and we wish her every happiness with Boogers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Where we might take issue is with her final statement above. Yes, losing a pet is tough, but McKinney implies that, for anyone with the money, the "terrible loss" can be erased by cloning. A new version of the old. A recyclable dog.
This is surely debatable. For many people, recreating a pet in this way would be a travesty. A dog cavorts through puppyhood, provides love and support through middle age and needs love and support through old age. Leaving out all religious, moral and philosophical arguments, there is still a question of why anyone would want to repeat the story of a life.
A much-loved dog is a near-perfect story. Is it one which should be retold, or should we look for a new story?
Would you want your pet cloned?
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Comment by Carolyn Cordon
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Food Leaf
I say it is disrespectful to the deceased dog, to think he can live on in this way. Each dog has to be itself, not a remake of the dog it came from.
NO sir, I don't like it.
Comment by Chris Champion
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I wanted to say no two dogs can be alike, but I couldn't see past the genetic blueprint thing. But of course, as you say, it doesn't matter how identical they are at birth, life experiences will make them different.
Excellent point well made. Thank you!
Comment by Roux
Genetically identical refers to the physical makeup of a person, animal, whatever, it does not refer the the being within the body. As a believer in being rejoined with my animals when I die, I believe they have souls too, and that is what makes up the animal I love, not a bunch of genes that can be cloned.
Janice (Roux's Mom)
Comment by Chris Champion
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Well said, again. Another thought comes to me - as I look back at my life, do I want to see one dog with mild variations of personality or many dogs with many personalities? I think the answer is obvious.
Comment by Heidi/Clyde
There have been some fascinating experiments on the influences of Nature (genetics) and nurture (upbringing) on personalities. Skinner, a very forward thinking animal psychologist of the 1960s started them I think. They prove conclusively that the 2 things are equally important so I suspect McKinney is going to be very disappointed. Also wasn't that South Korean lab proven to be fiddling with the truth a bit? Even more dissappointed!
It has to be pretty screwed up thinking to spend $50,000.00 chasing an unrealistic dream doesn't it? Especially when there are so many lovely dogs in shelters waiting to find a home.
The other interesting scientific fact is that they are tending to find that cloned animals age more quickly than normal ones, something to do I suppose with the age of the cells they start with, so you spend $50,000 and your dream dies after about 5 years? what then?
Me I'm sticking to fostering GAP greyhounds, it is such fun meeting all the different personalities as they come through the programme and you get to choose the ones you keep so you get the right dogs, even if they aren't quite "my dogs". The only problem is that once youv'e decided to keep 2 there really isn't room to keep another one as well as the foster hound or hounds (Chris, imagine sharing your dressing room with 4 Scratchys). It would have been so nice if we could have kept Nanna and Cella and Tyson and Amber and Josh and Harry and ..........
Jennie (aka the Missus)
Comment by Roux
Roux 'b Doux (my heart is hers so so what)
Jennie,
You are so right, and if you sell your house to get eight dogs, how do you house the dogs? Strange and stupid in my opinion.
Janice
Comment by Heidi/Clyde
I have this vision of 8 growing Pit Bulls all confined in a caravan (a trailer?). It doesn't really bear thinking about does it? At least you could hope that 8 Poodles or Greyhounds would have the sense not to take out their frustration on each other or on you but Pit Bulls?
Jennie.
G'day Roux,
Geeze dun hoomans carry on? Me mate Heidi an me dun care thut we're nut ther scone hot dogs fer ther Missus an ther Boss. We gets all ther tummy rubs an ear scratches now ('ceptin when ther Foster hounds put in ther nips, I gets a bit narked when they gets more rubs than me). Words is nuthin'. Uts rubs an warm beds an good tucker an a place in ther sun thut counts.
Clyde.
Comment by Chris Champion
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I love that!
Hi Jennie,
Thanks for a wonderful comment. That deserves to be a blog post or feature article somewhere. As for the trailer caravan vision, you trying to give me nightmares? I'll take the poodles any day.
Hi Clyde,
We all have our priorities. I like yours.