Company Cloning Pet Dogs, For Hefty Fee

South Korea's RNL Bio: We'll Recreate Fido, For Cool $150G

(CBS/AP)  A South Korean company is offering to clone pet dogs in cooperation with the scientists who created the world's first cloned canine, the company said Friday.

Seoul-based RNL Bio said it is already working on its first order from an American woman who wants a clone of her dead pit bull. She was especially attached to it because it saved her life when another dog attacked her and bit off her arm.

The client, Bernann McKunney of California, provided RNL with ear tissue from the dead dog, which she had taken and preserved at a U.S. biotech company before the dog died a year-and-a-half ago, said company spokeswoman Kim Yoon.

Hundreds of other dog-lovers have expressed interest, RNL says.

The chances of successfully creating a clone are about 25 percent, Kim said, but scientists will keep at it until they are successful in each case. RNL is charging $150,000 for the clones, which clients pay only after they receive a new pet.

"Canines die faster than humans," an RNL salesman told reporter Celia Hatton, "but now, people can have the same dog for their whole lives."

To clone a dog, Hatton says, scientists need a perfect DNA sample to start with, and the new dog may not act exactly as the old one, even though they'd be genetically identical, since personality is only partially determined by genes.

Cloning work will be done by a team of Seoul National University scientists led by Professor Lee Byeong-chun, a key member of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk's research team, Kim said. The company will handle marketing.

Most of Hwang's purported breakthroughs in cloning human stem cells were found to be fake. But the team was found to have successfully created the world's first dog clone, an Afghan hound named "Snuppy."

Lee was the main scientist leading the dog cloning. He later cloned more dogs and succeeded in cloning a wolf. Kim, the company spokeswoman, said no other scientists elsewhere had succeeded in creating cloned dogs, and that her company is offering the world's first commercial dog cloning service.

Lee confirmed the university's animal cloning clinic would work on the project, but did not elaborate.

RNL Bio plans to eventually focus on cloning not only pets, but also special dogs, such as those trained to sniff out bombs.

Established in 2000, the company produces animal disinfectants and health supplements, as it conducts stem cell research.

[grammawhamma]

So people are willing to dish out 150G for a dog that will look like their dead dog but most likely not have the same personality. Is it not better to adopt a new puppy from the humane society and donate the $150G to a charity? What is wrong with people!?

[pensacola88]

It sounds like this article was designed to prove that vanity has no limits.

Life offers its'' share of "Get its" and "Get OVER its"

Every time you take a dog, you have to also take the fleas that come with it. No dog will last forever.

Sounds like the California woman is hopelessly mentally ill.

[kommoncents-2009]

This is SO WRONG!!! How stupid are some people?? There are millions of unwanted puppies & dogs desperate for homes - wonderful loving dogs - and now people are going to start cloning dogs? This should absolutley be ILLEGAL. There will always be some moron with too much money who will pay to clone a dog, cat, horse, whatever, so this should be stopped before it starts. Donate that money you''re wasting to help neglected, homeless animals instead!

[ajaxrose1]

This is the lamest thing ever.

[rational_1]

Just wait - someone, someday (probably soon) is going to want to clone their dead kid. And once the technology is mature, all it will take is finding someone with the skills and lack of morals and decency. This could be the tip of a very ugly slippery slope, although I fervently hope not.

[denn034]

If it''s illegal to clone humans, then, it should be illegal to clone animals as well.

[crappyleader]

If someone loves something and has the means to obtain a copy that although is not exact is the closest for them. I see nothing wrong with it if she has the funds to do it. If you feel she should use the money for other things that would help people then please sell your dogs because the money you spend on them for medical care, dog food, toys, etc. could be going to feed the homeless. We all use our money in ways that we find advantageous to us. Its her life quit trying to tell her what to do.

[shaferg]

IF A DOG IS A CLONE DOES IT HAVE A SOUL ?? MAY I CLONE MY GIRLFRIEND ?? IF WE CAN BE CLONED, WOULD WE NEED AN UNDERTAKER ??

[rf35]

1. Pit bulls should be illegal, cloned or otherwise. It probably will bite her other arm off.

2. If she wants to clone something other than a breed of dog selectively bred for viciousness, then that''s her right, however twisted that might seem to us.

3. Korea is interested in cloning dogs because a certain breed is a delicacy there. Right now, it is very expensive since only young dogs%u2019 meat is tender enough to use in kaegogi. Cloning is a technology that could help lower the price.

[Zataria_Kougi]

Good grief, you should leave the poor woman alone and stop preaching about her being stupid until you've experienced something like that. I myself would pay more than that to have my dog back. She was a wolf hybrid who saved me from being raped once, and from being bitten another time. I consider her to be worth way more than 150g and if I could I'd pay it. Yes, there's other dogs out there, but sometimes you find one that sets such a high standard that all other dogs are pale in comparison and you can't love them like you should!