Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Pet cloning

Over at Digital Bio, Sandra is writing about the phenomenon of pet cloning. My take on it? Waste. Of. Money. With the amount of cute, lovable, and totally perfect dogs and cats in shelters waiting for a forever home and loving owners ... cloning a pet is, as far as I am concerned, ethically reprehensible. It's a status symbol move, and while it could be borne out of grief, that doesn't make it acceptable. And boo to those who have sold out and provide these services. Jerks.

Here is the thing: The clone WILL NOT be your old pet. It won't look identical, it will not behave identically either. It certainly won't have the memories your old pet had, and it won't have the same likes/dislikes. It probably won't have the cute little mannerisms you came to love in your old pet either. People who clone their pets are bound to be disappointed when they find these things out ... the hard way. You should love your new pet because of who they are, not what your old pet was. That's the only fair way. Besides, your cloned pet will have a shorter lifespan, not to mention other problems. Remember Dolly? She lived to be six years old, only half of the average lifespan of a sheep. Thing is, she was cloned from a six year old sheep herself, so at one year of age ... genetically, she was seven. You want to pay for that?

Adopt. I did.

This is Casey, my GSD. She's adopted, and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

5 comments:

Jetty said...

That's so true. There are so many animals being euthanized because the shelters are full and then there are people trying to make money off of those grieving the loss of their pets. Pretty ironic.

Tom said...

Pretty sad too. Today I found a beautiful husky wandering my neighborhood. I found him once before, brought him into my backyard and gave him food and water. When I ran to the store to get somethng (was going to call animal control when I got back), he was gone. Now, he's back a couple of weeks later. Still skinny, but beautiful and full of life. I need to find a no-kill shelter. Fortunately this time, I placed him on my dog run ... so he shouldn't be able to get away.

Anonymous said...

Ah, another animal lover. I'll have to come back.

I have adopted all my dogs from a shelter, rescue group or right off the street. They have all been really good dogs, and a couple have been great dogs. And there is really no trouble getting a purebred if you really want one.

Tom said...

Thanks for stopping by Mark. As far as Kodi is concerned (yes, I named him ... short for Kodiak), I think we may keep him. It's not 100% settled, but we're both strongly leaning in that direction.

Neil Cianci said...

Hi Thomas,

This is indeed unnecessary. It's maybe just part of the research work being done on cloning. I agree with you that there is no need to clone a pet. One can adopt.

Thanks,
Neil