Pet cloning is now an option for pet owners
A passage from Exodus 20:4 in The Bible reads: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Perhaps people need to pay attention to this, as it started 20 years ago, when scientists first began cloning animals. The very first, was a sheep named Dolly and since then – scientists have further been playing god, by cloning other animals as well. It began back in July of 1996, in the country of Scotland. A research facility, discovered what would become the very first mammal cloned from a single adult cell.
News of this was like from something from a science fiction magazine. It became reality and was such a big deal, that it graced the cover of Time magazine. After six years, the clone of Dolly the sheep, would later die…after she developed a type of lung infection.
Many felt like this was nothing more than some kind of scientific fad and it would soon pass. Well, as it turns out they were wrong. Since Dolly came into existence, the study and research of cloning has been consistently happening around the world.
Most of the known experimentation done, was with livestock and other show animals such as horses. With so much progress, this procedure has advanced to the point where a number of veterinarians and scientists can actually clone your pets.
With these series of tests and further documentation, a toy poodle dog was the first of its kind to be successfully cloned by a Dr. Mike Hutchison, at the Animal General Hospital in Cranberry. Now, everyone who notices this small adorable dog asks to pet him.
The dog responds much like any ordinary dog would with enthusiasm and spunkiness. The dog it seems is both quite curious and happy to meet everyone who wanders through the doorway of the clinic. Baxter is now 9 months old and still going strong. What many people fail to realize is just how real all of this is. It is a newfound technology which has been presented to humankind. Whether it is used for good or evil will be the true test of things to come. Melain Rodriguez, who is the Client Services Manager for the Texas company, ViaGen Pets said:
“People have a hard time wrapping their brain around that it that it is a real technology. That it is not science fiction. It’s not like what you see on TV or in the movies.”
Now for more than 15 years, the ViaGen company has been cloning livestock. The amount of clones made reaches into the thousands. Mostly being cattle and more than 250 different horses, pigs, and of course sheep. Within the last several years, they began cloning dogs and cats. Having your pet cloned will come a hefty price. This service, will set you back $50,000 dollars.
Key points in the procedure starts with four different skin samples being taken from your pet. This is a fairly straight forward procedure. Then owners will choose to have it done while their dog or cat is already under anesthesia. It is comparable to that of someone getting a dental cleaning done.
There is no formal training involved for a veterinarian to being the cloning process. The veterinarian will simply take a small sample with a special instrument and then place stitch over the wound of the animal. The size of this sample is fairly small.
“Every vet on the planet can do this and preserve the DNA very, very easily,” Dr. Hutchison said. “It’s things we do every day in practice almost.”
With this skin sample, millions of upon millions of cells are made that contain the pet’s complete DNA and this is used to create the clone.
As of now, it would take about six to seven months for ViaGen to have a cloned puppy created for your family. All of this very science fiction and mad-scientist like. But it is now a reality. The question remains when people will begin being cloned and will they have souls? Many believe that this has already happened in secret. Who knows now what the future has in store or storage for us all.
(Source: CBS Pittsburgh)
