$100,000 For A Cloned Dog?

A man in New Mexico paid $100,000 to clone Old Blue, his dying dog. He sent Blue's, DNA to a laboratory in South Korea while he was still alive, where it was stored until the request came to proceed with the cloning. Blue, the new puppy is a genetic replica of Old Blue and appears to be his carbon copy.

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This is not yet an exact science and not without a physical price paid by laboratory dogs as well. Eggs have to be extracted from a large number of dogs; cloned embryos must then be implanted in other dogs so that, maybe, a couple of pregnancies might "take". Additionally, the resulting dog may look very similar to the original dog but not have the behavior, personality, and essence  of the original. There are not enough cloned dogs in existence to determine whether there are any long term health or medical issues attendant to this process.

I certainly understand the attachment and love one feels towards a dog. Yet, when I think about the millions of dogs in this country killed for no other reason than insufficient time to wait for a home, or all the wonderful dogs that we do find in shelters, I just can't support cloning.  When I think about each time I thought my dog was the most unique and wonderful dog in the universe, to only feel that way again about another dog, it taught me to accept death as a way of life and celebrate the differences in each of our pets.

Finally, when I think of those willing to spend $100,000. or more on a cloned pet, I see people who really loved their pet and would ask them to, instead, adopt one from a shelter and donate the remaining funds to help other pets find health, happiness and a home.