CBS13 / CS31 News - Cloned Dog
Booger, a pitbull terrier, died of cancer in April 2006. Owner Bernann McKinney of Hollywood, California, said that she was especially attached to Booger because he saved her life when she was attacked by another dog three times his size. The incident resulted in her left hand being amputated and injured leg nerves and stomach. Her dog pulled her wheelchair when its battery ran out, opened her house door with his teeth, and helped her take off her shoes and socks, even though she never trained him to do so.
"The most unusual thing about Booger was that he has a unique ability to reason," she said. "He seems to understand that I couldn't use my hands."
RNL Bio charges up to $150,000 for dog cloning but will only receive $50,000 from McKinney because she is the first customer and helped with publicity, said company head Ra Jeong-chan.
wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Inasmuch as spending a ton of money and throwing a lot of technology at something so fundamentally friviolous being inherently unethical, I agree. On a less resource-oriented level, though, the ethics of cloning seem rather ambiguous. I see merit in taking a supremely talented person in a vital discipline and attempting to recreate his or her genius. I just don't think it's worth billions of dollars and possible genetic damage to a person who could live a lifetime with horrible disabilities.
Cloning of humans or animals is unethical.
I have negative opinions on dog breeding in general with so many millions of unwanted pets being destroyed every year.
Yeah, I agree. There are too many great animals without a home in the world. If I were inclined to blow $150,000 on a dog, I would just go to a pet rescue group and donate the money to a good cause.
I would rather just get another rescue dog though.