A U.S. woman received five puppies today cloned from her late pet pitbull. Read the full story here.
I personally think commercial canine cloning is a big, big mistake. According to the Anti-Vivisection Society, " studies have shown that the multiple procedures involved in animal cloning not only cause pain and stress to the surrogate animals used in the lab, but the offspring - if they actually survive birth-do not look or act identical to the original animal." Thus, cloning is a mute point that only brings about possible damage! It would make just as much sense ( and would certainly be more natural) to purchase a dog from the same bloodline through a reputable breeder. Your chances of a dog of similar temperament and physical characteristics are just as good.
It's a fact that the mast majority of clones suffer birth defects and die prematurely. Why else do you think that for the $50,000 fee the S. Korean company charged her, the first woman to clone her dog received FIVE puppies! Will all five puppies survive and live long healthy lives? Doubtful.
I understand this woman's grief over the loss of her beloved pet. Apparently he was an incredible animal that saved her from another dog's attack and then later helped her when she was wheelchair bound. But I believe it would have been better for her ( and more respectful of her dog's memory) to have saved the life of a dog in a shelter rather than clone her departed pet.
Cloning is dubious science at best and frankly quite scary to me. Just because we can clone animals doesn't mean we should.
What do you think?
1 comment:
Adopting dogs at shelters is way more sensible than cloning. The dogs at shelter give 100 percent UNconditional love and are just as smart and loyal as her original dog. Isn't she wanted on some criminal charges anyway? If she goes to prison, she won't be caring for the puppies. The puppies are the poor victims in this mess. By the way, having worked at a shelter, 25 percent of the dogs they get in at the shelters are pure breds. And consider that across the country more than 4 million dogs are put to sleep each year in shelters, so why bring five more into the world?
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