The cloning of dogs or cats is slowly becoming a completely normal reality. For now, you can encounter it mostly in Asian countries. It’s the companies in South Korea that are most famous for their business plans focusing on the grieving dog and cat owners. Here, the people who have just lost their pet, can have its twin cloned and this way, they can have it by their side forever.
A number of organisations for animal protection around the whole world is against the cloning of pets. They say, that same as with the cloning of people, the cloning of animals is unnatural and unethical. The Koreans, but also, for example, Americans and the British, however, see this differently and the legislature makes it possible for the pet owners.
With respect to high costs, which climb all the way to several millions of crowns, buying a clone of a deceased dog or cat is unavailable to most customers. Quite naturally, this brings up the question whether it is “normal” and whether it’s not a mere fashion fad.
Despite the strong bond that bound me to my two already deceased dogs, I don’t dare to give a definite answer.
It’s precisely the strong connection between the owner and his pet that the companies offering this service use as an argument while referring to psychological and traumatological methods, saying that getting a clone is one of the ways how to deal with the loss of a beloved animal friend. Is this an emotional game?
Leaving aside the question of trauma from a painful loss, which no doubt the death of a dog, cat, or a rodent family member is, there is yet another dimension to the whole business around cloning. Experts criticise the cloning companies for unethical conduct bordering on cruelty to animals, because it requires an operation of three dogs: the DNA donor, the eggs donor and of the surrogate mother.
How did it all start? It was the Afghan Hound Snuppy who became famous as the first dog clone. He was born in 2005 and lived to be ten years old. In order to confirm this “spectacular miracle”, they had more puppies cloned from his cells – three survived. Another famous clone is the police dog Trakr. Also in his case, the scientist were successful.
Since then, hundreds of cloned mostly dogs of various breeds are running around the world. Experts point out that this business is rather starting to resemble large “factories for animals”.
This trend still hasn’t arrived to the Czech Republic also because of the demandingness on technological equipment of the laboratories. In this area, however, the Czech scientist Helena Fulková achieved fame, when she managed to clone a lab mouse.
In our family, we always lasted without a dog for the maximum of a year, then we welcomed a new member into the pack, who was always unique in some way and inimitable. Therefore, we’ve never considered getting a clone :). What do you think about cloning?
Food is one of the most basic needs of dogs as well as humans. How to make sure your dog has enough necessary nutrients? And if you opt for dry food, what options are there? And what to consider when choosing?
Most of us care about the contents of the packages with dry food but have you ever thought about the packaging itself? Do you know what is used for the packaging of dry food, how different are individual materials and what innovations can you find on...
You can recognize a Burmese cat mainly because of its silky fur and beautiful, deep gloss with typical signs of a colour that is not present in any other breed. Besides its glossy fur, this breed has also a great nature which makes these cats great...
Dachshunds, from smooth-haired, wire-haired and short-haired to long-haired, are popular companions and not only in the Czech Republic but in the world as well. And they are great companions! Even though they are quite stubborn.
Cats may bite from many reasons and if you would like to make this undesirable behaviour stop, it is important to understand why they do it. The fundamental thing is to eliminate the cause but we can also help with other things.
Do you like baking and you have noone to bake for? You probably haven’t thought about your dog companion. However, you might also make some tasty and healthy goodies at home for it as well. I’ll tell you how.
Only a few per cent of loss of water may cause serious problems for your dog. However, we often don’t pay attention to its drinking and underestimate its importance. When there is a risk of dehydration, do you know how to avoid it or recognize it?
Dry food with larger proportion of meat might not only have positive effects on dogs’ organisms, when processed well, it will also make happy even the pickiest gourmets that usually don’t like dry food. Thanks to a holistic approach, you’ll keep the...
The days are getting warmer and our dogs and cat starts to shed. This has a negative impact on your household with all the hair. Have you found a way to reduce the contamination with hair at least a bit and speed up the process of shedding?...
Do you also barely resist the temptation to cuddle a dog, no matter if yours or someone else’s? It’s no surprise, a new study shows that such contact with a dog is like a drug for human brain.
There are plenty of reasons why we get flat-faced dogs. For their specific appearance, great nature, loyal love to their owner... And maybe also for their need of constant attention that makes us feel well. The flat-faced dogs are simply cute....
Brown rats, mice and hamsters as well as other rodents are quite small pets and sometimes, we don’t even think about dealing with them being overweight. However, if we like our pets and we want them to be well and stay with us as long as possible,...
