Some celebrities invest their fortunes in real estate, jewelry, or cars. Apparently, Barbra Streisand used some of hers to clone her dog twice after it passed away.
Many people were shocked by that because they had no idea such a thing could even be possible. It is, but (as you might expect), it’s not cheap.
Dog cloning came onto the scene in 2005 in Korea. That dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, lived until 2015. Since then, other businesses have concentrated on the practice, with Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea being one of the pioneers. However, that organization will charge you $100,000 to duplicate your dog.
That is two times what a Texas dog cloning business charges. Your dog’s (or cat’s) DNA will be kept at a cryo-storage facility by Viagen Pets. Embryos created by combining it with a donor egg can then be placed inside a surrogate.
There is a waiting list at the moment, but the process takes six to seven months. Dogs are $50,000. Cats cost half that.
Even Streisand doesn’t know the answer yet, but the clones might look like your old dog, but will they behave like him or her?
“They have different personalities,” she tells Variety. “I’m waiting until they’re more mature to see if they inherit [her previous dog’s] brown eyes and her seriousness.” ”.
We can clone dogs? Since when?
Even if you don’t pay much attention to clones, you might remember Dolly the Sheep, who was born in 1996. Since then, about two dozen additional mammal species have been cloned, including cattle, deer, horses, rabbits, cats, rats, and, yes, dogs.
After nearly three years of work and more than 1,000 eggs, South Korean researchers declared in 2005 that they had successfully cloned a dog for the first time. A cloned male Afghan hound named Snuppy was born with the assistance of a yellow Labrador retriever who acted as the surrogate mother. (Snuppy, of course, stood for “Seoul National University puppy. ”).
By 2008, a Californian business had teamed up with a South Korean lab and was preparing to hold an auction for the chance to clone five dogs. The New York Times reported that the first three puppies from the litter were born in South Korea later that year.
Two 2015 reports — from Business Insider and NPR — detail the work of Sooam Biotech, a lab in South Korea, and said the lab, on its own, had cloned more than 600 dogs.
Both articles say Sooam Biotech charged about $100,000 to attempt the process. ViaGen Pets, a company based in Texas, says it charges $50,000 for the cloning or $1,600 to merely preserve your pet’s genes.
According to reports and data on ViaGen’s website, the cloning procedure, specifically a dog’s pregnancy, typically lasts about 60 days.
It was not clear which company Ms. Streisand used to create her clones. A publicist for Ms. On Tuesday night, Streisand did not immediately answer a phone call or email.
This week, Barbra Streisand gave a candid and in-depth interview to Variety, during which she made one noteworthy aside: two of her dogs were clones of a previous dog, Samantha, who had recently passed away. Here, Ms. Streisand explains how this sad medical breakthrough came to be.
You can duplicate a dog’s appearance, but not its soul. Still, whenever I look at their faces, I can’t help but think of my Samantha. and smile.
Although I was accustomed to taking my dog everywhere with me and had never had more than one dog living in my home at a time, five dogs were still too many for me to manage.
Now that I have Miss Fanny, Miss Violet, and Miss Scarlett at home, it can be a little overwhelming. But we love them so much. Each puppy is unique and has her own personality.
And then I got a call from the lab. The cloning procedure not only took place, but it also resulted in the birth of four puppies; sadly, the runt of the litter passed away before the puppies could be brought to me because of their young age.
A significant portion of the criticism centers on the number of dogs who already lack homes. Many find it upsetting that Streisand would go to such great lengths to clone her dogs when there are more than enough dogs already available. It is difficult to defend the effort to clone dogs given the sheer number of dogs that live in shelters without homes and even perish for lack of space. Naturally, she’s always bought dogs from breeders rather than shelters and rescues, so it’s unlikely that any dogs would have been saved if she hadn’t decided to clone her dogs.
Along with the original dog, other dogs are also used in the cloning process. Surgery is required to remove the eggs from donor dogs in order for the procedure to be successful. Before adding the DNA from the future cloned dog, the genetic material from those eggs is removed. The egg must then be implanted into a surrogate dog through a different surgery. Typically, multiple eggs from multiple donors are needed, and less than a third of cloning attempts are successful. That means that numerous dogs must undergo surgeries and endure life in a lab for each cloned dog, as many detractors have pointed out.
Dog cloning costs between $50,000 and $100,000, and Streisand has received a lot of flak for shelling out so much cash to have her dog cloned. She could have helped or saved a great deal of dogs if she had donated the money to charity instead of spending it, according to the argument made against it. Although I recognize that the expense can be viewed as unnecessary, I believe that Streisand is completely free to spend her own money however she pleases. She is widely regarded as one of the most charitable celebrities, contributing to a variety of causes. ).
The expectation of receiving a dog who is identical to the original pet raises serious concerns about cloning. Although there will probably be many similarities because the genetics are the same, there will be differences in the environmental influences. The experiences that shaped the original dog’s personality will all be different, and the elements that shaped the human-dog bond will all be unique. When someone wants a dog to be exactly like a previous pet, it could be detrimental to a new relationship. (To her credit, Streisand has acknowledged that the dogs have distinct personalities and that she is awaiting her chance to see if they possess Samantha’s seriousness, demonstrating that she is aware that clones are not exact replicas of an older dog. ).
In a recent interview for Variety, Barbra Streisand revealed that two of her dogs are clones of her previous dog—a deceased Coton du Tulear named Samantha. She has been criticized for the clonings, and I share many people’s concerns about it.
FAQ
How much did it cost Barbra Streisand to have her dog cloned?
For $50,000, You Can Clone Yours. – The New York Times. Science|Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Dog.
How much did it cost to clone a dog?
The price of cloning a cat is $35,000, and that of a dog is $50,000. Half of the total amount is required up front by ViaGen, and the remaining amount is due once the process is complete.
How much does it cost to clone a dog 2022?
They also pioneered the cloning of animals other than just dogs and cats. ViaGen Pets: The American Cloning Company Dogs cost $50,000 to clone. Dogs cost $60,000 to clone, whereas cats only cost $35,000, which is a significant difference.
What is the life expectancy of a cloned dog?
There is no clear explanation for why this happens, but it could be related to a compromised immune system. Additionally, while advancements are constantly being made, a normal dog may live 12 to 15 years, whereas a cloned dog may only live 10 to 12.