What do you think, readers? I know many people are vehemently opposed to cloning, but I wonder if it’s situational or absolute. What if the clonee is a hero? Here’s the scoop, according to the NY Daily News.
Trackr, a German Shepherd hailed for heroism for his efforts at serching through the World Trade Center rubble for victims of the September 11th attacks, died in April from a degenerative brain disorder. He was 16, and had evidently lived an extraordinary life. He helped to locate the last survivor of the bombings under 30 feet of debris.
His handler, James Symington wrote an essay which said, in part, “Once in a lifetime, a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a pivotal role in history.” The essay was the winner of BioArts International’s Best Friends Again contest to find the most cloneworthy dog.
So, now there are five exact genetic copies of Trackr running around Symington’s house. Symington was a Canadian police officer, and now lives in Los Angeles, where he hopes to get the five puppies involved in search and rescue.
So, what do you think? Is this a good thing? Or is cloning still bad regardless of who gets cloned?
Fair’s fair…I guess I should tell you my thoughts if I expect you to tell me yours. I have no personal strong feelings against cloning. I can’t imagine ever spending the thousands it costs to have it done, but if people want to spend their money on it, what difference should it make to me?
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
(Photo credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes)
As a Brittany Rescue volunteer I am STRONGLY against cloning. For every one dog that we are able to take in there are many many more still waiting or euthanized. We already have millions of animals destroyed every year around the world. WHY would we intentionally add to that by cloning?
I believe we need to rethink our priorities here and enact better animal protection laws BEFORE we go and compound the issue.
With todays economy our intake of Britts has grown exponentially. It’s truly frustrating and disheartening to continually fight to SAVE lives while many people are breeding their pets for silly reasons such as * im an empty nester, I want one of his pups, I want I want I want… I can make money…. it’s always about I WANT….. what about what the animal deserves? We as humans domesticated the animals, and we are responsible for them. NOW we make the overpopulation problem worse by cloning?
It’s absurd. The dog will NEVER be EXACTLY like the previous one as we can not exactly duplicate every single moment of the previous dog’s life that contributed to his personality and abilities. And before anyone asks, YES i’m against human cloning too. And NO i would NOT EVER consider cloning. Nothing can fully replace that animal. I wouldnt want to cheapen my best friends life by doing so. We can’t replace them completely, we CAN however open our hearts, arms, and homes to another animal that will love us unconditionally.
The butterfly affect comes to mind here… Change one tiny little thing of the past and we change all of the future
I agree. I don’t necessarily have a strong opinion about cloning either. I do wonder whether there will be any big drawbacks discovered in a few years, ie: health issues. I also wonder how close these dogs, besides their appearance, come to the original dog? After all, nurture has a lot to do with how a dog will behave, etc.
Personally, I like to believe that I share my house with the most amazing dog on this planet. He’s a rescue. A mutt. He’s got me wrapped around his paw. And he’s 15 now. At times I do wonder whether I should save some DNA when that dreaded, horrible day comes … I might. If at some point in my life, money has become abundant, and 150K don’t hurt anymore, or even if the price of cloning drops to 10K … why not? I’ve contributed as much as I can over the years to various animal causes and I plan on doing so for many more years. But I also think, that if the day comes, and I want to give this a try to get another shot at having my best friend back (or a very close second), I should be allowed to do so, without being condemned by those who oppose.