A Boca Raton, Florida, couple got a new dog, and it’s just like their old dog.
Not just the same breed and gender, but the same DNA.
Nina and Edgar Otto picked up their cloned yellow lab puppy at the Miami International Airport this week. Lancelot Encore was cloned from the DNA of the Ottos’ late dog Lancelot, which died of cancer in January 2008.
Guessing that pet cloning would one day be possible, the Ottos had DNA samples of their dog frozen five years ago.
The Ottos paid $155,000 in a San Francisco biotech firm’s dog-cloning auction last July.
Please reread that last sentence. $155,000!
BioArts International created Lancelot Encore in South Korea, where he was born 10 weeks ago.
Okay. Let me ask you a question. If you had a spare $155,000 would you clone a dog? Cat? Your child? Spouse? Anybody?
The answer for me? Simple! NO! I’d keep my money and spend it on something far wiser. Then again, just about anything would be wiser than spending money on a clone of anything.
I know that the Otto’s live in one of the most exclusive cities in the United States, maybe in the world. But come on folks. Go to the shelter. Rescue a dog. Look around town, there are hundreds of strays on the streets that could use a good home. Give the money to your local shelter. Feed a hungry family. Go on a missions trip and see what the world is really like—outside of your small, narrow, wealthy, mansion-driven world.
What a waste of good money!
