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This company managed to clone a horse 12 times (February 2019) 0:29
(CNN) - They knew Marley was the perfect dog. Then, when it was time to say goodbye to his beloved Labrador, Alicia and David Tschirhart did what they had to do to keep a part of Marley alive: they cloned him.
Ziggy's resemblance to Marley, says the California couple, is amazing.
"He has the same personality, plays the same, prefers the same toys," Alicia told KGTV, a CNN San Diego affiliate, about the new animal in their lives.
While the cloning of your pet looks like something you would see in a science fiction movie, it has actually been done more frequently than you think.
In 2018, actress and singer Barbara Streisand revealed that two of her dogs were clones of a previous dog. In South Korea, a tracking dog that was known for its "legendary" nose was cloned to produce seven other tracking dogs. And in 2009, five puppies were cloned from Trakr, a hero dog credited with finding the last survivor under the rubble of the September 11 attacks in New York.
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The cloning process for Marley was done through ViaGen Pets, they said. The company puts a price of $ 50,000. The Tschirharts, who live in Escondido, told KGTV that it was a small price to pay.
After all, Marley could have saved Alicia's life. It was the least they could do.
When Alicia was about four months pregnant, the couple, with the dog in tow, went for a walk. Alicia bent down to grab a cane, but Marley ran off and began scratching the ground in the area where she was taking it.
"I saw that really big stick and concentrated on grabbing it," Alicia said. "I didn't even see the snake until Marley started scratching."
What was hidden from the road was a venomous rattlesnake. Marley scared him away, the couple said. He was later diagnosed with cancer and died about five years ago, according to affiliate KUSI.
Now, the couple says their children will have more than a memory of Marley as they grow up.
“I just couldn't think of a better way to do it. Grow with Ziggy nearby, ”said David.
How the cloning process works
The cloning process of ViaGen uses the same technology that was used to clone the Dolly sheep in 1996.
While the pet lives or shortly after death, a veterinarian will take a biopsy of the dog's tissue, according to a video on the ViaGen website.
A biopsy sample will be sent to ViaGen, which will then grow new live cells from the sample and freeze them.
Once the owner decides to clone his beloved pet, ViaGen will take one of the cells and replace the core of a dog's egg with it.
The egg and cell join together and the embryo will begin to grow. Then, the embryo is transferred to a surrogate mother, who will give birth after a normal gestation.
Because none of the genes in the original dog was changed, ViaGen says that the clone is basically an identical twin, just born at a later time.
Critics say it is unethical
Pet cloning has increased in popularity since it was commercially available in recent years.
ViaGen currently has a one-year waiting list, a spokesperson told KGTV.
But as more and more pet owners spend a lot of money to clone their dogs and cats, animal rights defenders consider the practice unethical.
"The cloning process begins with a group of dogs that will 'donate' their eggs, a process that involves the pharmaceutical manipulation of hormonal levels and a surgical procedure for egg collection," wrote bioethics Jessica Pierce in an opinion piece in The New York Times
“If all goes well, they will be surgically implanted in one or more canine surrogate mothers who will carry a litter of term cloned puppies. After performing their tasks of producing a dog, working dogs will be used for another purpose, ”Pierce added.
Two of the nation's most prominent animal defense organizations, PETA and the Humane Society of the United States, have publicly opposed the cloning of animals.
"The cloning experiments reflect a spirit common to all systematic forms of cruelty to animals," said the Animal Protective Society of the United States on its website. "They treat animals only as merchandise, rather than as living individuals with their own needs and natures."
"When you consider that millions of equally nice dogs are slaughtered in animal shelters every year for lack of a home, cloning is even more indefensible," PETA said in a 2018 publication on its website.
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ViaGen responded to criticism and said in a statement to CNN that while it is true that substitutes are used to clone puppies, "they are treated with the highest levels of attention, nutrition and respect."
ViaGen added: “The number of cloned animals is a small fraction compared to the animals that pass through the shelters. We believe that we should all work together to help find permanent homes for shelter animals, but we do not believe that cloning increases the problem significantly. ”