Clone Dog

We broke the Pittsburgh Franken Dog story to you and now there's another kind of fake dog. This one isn't brought back from the dead, but instead is made from another dog's ear. Yep, that's right South Korean researchers removed a single cell from an Afghan hound's ear and made another Afghan hound. The pooch's name- Snuppy (not a Peanuts faux pas as some would believe, but stands for Seoul University pUPPY). Hundreds of dogs lost ear cells in the ongoing tests that yielded two dogs (one who died after three weeks).

And apparently there's been removal of ear cells from more than just dogs and sheep. Goats, cows, mice, pigs, rabbits, horses, deer, and an ox have all given up an ear cell with or without their consent (i have to assume that most fall into the latter category). And cats, too. Oh yes, in fact cloned cats have been on the market since December of last year. Prices have fallen as low as $32,000.00 for a cloned cat at Genetic Savings and Clone (go on and check out their website and let me know if the human models are clones as well). That may seem ridiculous in our present time where thousands of cute kitties are waiting for patiently for happy homes in shelter's throughout the country, not to mention world. And, get this, these cats are usually totally free-BUT BE WARNED. THOSE ARE REAL CATS! NOT CLONES.

But there are things to consider when spending an assload of money on a fake cat or dog (which Genetic Savings and Cone is now looking into) when there are so many perfectly fine natural ones without homes that you could get for $00,000.00. The Chicago Tribune's Redeye newspaper interviewed Lou Hawthorne, the chief executive officer of GS and C, back in May. When asked what to consider, Mr. Hawthorne said, "People come to us believing their poor animal that just died is going to come back to them with the miracle of cloning. Anyone who tells you that is going to happen is running a scam." Thanks Mr. Hawthorne. Sounds like sage advice. Now, when asked what's the motivation behind GS and C's major funder, John Sperling (also the founder of the University of Phoenix), Hawthorne said, "He wants to clone his dog, Missy. So, all experiments we do on dog cloning are done with Missy's DNA. She's a beautiful mix of border collie and husky. She died a couple of years ago."
Hm.