I read a story on Wednesday about a guy in Ontario who just received two clones of his dog. The original dog was a shepherd/dingo cross and lived until he was 20. The dog was a close companion who nursed him through a serious illness and the two became even closer. Not that we dog people don’t grow super attached anyway, but this seemed an even closer bond than usual.
The cost was (gulp) $90,000.00. Wow. So the guy sent off the appropriate genetic material…and now he’s got two dogs that according to him, are exactly like the original. Will they have the same personality? Who knows. Environment dictates how we develop, so I wish him luck.
When I spoke to the company that did the cloning they told me there’s no reason to believe the dogs won’t live a long and healthy life. They told me they also have clone cows, sheep and horses.
This whole affair got me thinking. Is someone cloning winning race horses? Maybe. And if they can clone dogs and horses, why not…humans?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out it’s already been done by some rogue scientist somewhere. And why would they? Because they can. They will say it’s in the interest of science (which it kind of is). And there’s also the historical aspect of being the first to do it. I have to admit…it kinda scares me.
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