Cloned Puppy Dog For $100k

DYLAN DOG/VIA VINE

British couple clones dead dog for $100,000 - A boxer puppy born on Boxing Day was cloned from a British couple’s dead dog.

Laura Jacques, 29, and Richard Remde 43, from West Yorkshire spent $100,000 to clone their beloved pet, which passed away in June after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, the Guardian reported.

The pair were so distraught after losing their 8-year-old dog, Dylan, which they had raised from a puppy, that they tapped a South Korean lab to try creating a genetically identical replacement.

The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, a clinic offering commercial dog cloning services, created the adorable doppleganger by taking DNA from Dylan almost two weeks after the dog passed. The previous time limit for dog cloning was five days after death.

The history-making bundle of joy was grown in the lab over the summer and implanted in a surrogate mother in November. The puppy was delivered by caesarean section on Saturday, the day after Christmas.

Its owners flew into South Korea to witness their designer dog’s birth. They named him Chance, after a dog voiced by Michael J. Fox in the 1993 Disney hit “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,” which is Jacques’ favorite movie.

“The whole thing just feels surreal,” she told the Guardian. “After they got him out I still couldn’t quite believe it had happened. But once he started making noises I knew it was real.”

The newborn is the spitting image of Dylan. “All the colorings and patterns on his body are in exactly the same places,” marveled Jacques.

The couple posted a Vine of the newborn pup with the caption, "And they called it #PuppyLove" on a Twitter feed honoring Dylan.

A second canine clone is expected to arrive any day now from another surrogate. It will be named Shadow, after another dog in the Disney film.

Twitter

The couple hopes to adopt both puppies’ mothers and bring all four animals home next July, after the quarantine period has ended.

The pair admit that the whole situation is “quite confusing,” since their new pooch is a perfect copy of the original.

“I’m telling myself that Chance is just like one of Dylan’s puppies,” Jacques said.

The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation has produced more than 700 dogs for customers by implanting DNA into a “blank” dog egg, which has had the nucleus removed.

Sooam scientist David Kim told the Guardian that the births of two cloned dogs are so exciting because the genetic samples were taken from Dylan 12 days after his death.

“This is the first case we have had where cells have been taken from a dead dog after a very long time,” Kim said. “Hopefully it will allow us to extend the time after death that we can take cells for cloning.”

Human cloning is illegal, and the European parliament voted in August to ban cloning farm animals, but there are no regulations yet on cloning pets.