I was reading the news this morning when I came across this article about the RNL Bio Company in South Korea.

A woman in California paid $54,000 to RNL Bio to have her Pit Bull, Booger cloned. Originally, the company was going to charge $162,000 but they came down in price to celebrate their first commercial deal for a dog.

This is a miracle,” said Bernann McKinney from Hollywood in California, hugging five clones of Booger at Seoul National University’s veterinary school today.

RNL Bio, the company that arranged the re-creation of Booger through his refrigerated ear tissue, hailed the event as the world’s first commercial cloning of a pet dog.

McKinney stated “They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person”. She went on to recall an experience from years ago where Booger had saved her life by chasing off a mastiff who had attacked her.

There is no doubt in my mind how much McKinney loved Booger and that is why she chose to clone him. However, the whole idea of cloning does bring up some very serious questions in my mind. The first being, why would anyone name their dog Booger? Second, what assurances do we have that we won’t be faced with a Pet Semetary situation? And finally, with the thousands of homeless dogs that are out there in desperate need of homes, what would happen to them if people just stopped adopting and chose to clone? I realize the price of cloning is very expensive and unaffordable to most, but it does make you think about the question.

But lest ye think that the cloning stops at our best friends…

“For my next project, I will consider cloning camels for rich people in the Middle East,” he said.

Hmmm…grandpa’s getting kind of old. I wonder…