Five Clones Reunite Woman with Deceased Dog

Finding Dulcinea August 06, 2008

Posted by Rachel Balik to findingDulcinea

A California woman who commissioned a Korean company to clone her dead pit bull, Booger, will bring home the first commercially cloned puppies.

After successfully creating five cloned pit bull puppies for a bereaved American whose dog, Booger, died of cancer in 2006, a Korean company is going into the commercial cloning business. “RNL Bio is commencing its worldwide services with Booger as its first successful clone,” the company announced.

Booger’s owner, Bernann McKinney, began looking for someone to clone her dog as soon as she found out he had cancer. She had found him by the side of the road, and soon after she brought him home, he rescued her from an attack by another dog. Booger was also injured, and pet and owner healed together. “Everywhere Booger went, he’d spread his special brand of magic,” McKinney told the Baltimore Sun. She says he helped her get dressed, brought her clean clothes from the dryer and sodas from the fridge.

Booger is considered the first commercially cloned animal, although scientists have been successfully cloning animals since Dolly the sheep in 1997. When Dolly was born, governments rushed to make regulations about the future of cloning. But a Time magazine editorial observed, “You can outlaw technique; you cannot repeal biology.”

The first dog was cloned in 2005, and many were wary of ethical consequences. Animal rights activists accurately predicted what it meant for the future. Dr. Freda Scott-Park, president-elect of the British Veterinary Association, told the BBC, “Sadly, however, the media interest is likely to attract pet owners keen to re-create their much loved pets.”

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