Two weeks after their boxer died, a British couple decided to clone their beloved pet. The clone dog was born yesterday. Yay, science!
Laura Jacques and Richard Remde lost their dog Dylan in June. Dylan was eight and had been sick after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Devastated over their loss, they contacted the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, an organization that clones dogs for around $100,000.
According to the Guardian, Chance, named after a character in Homeward Bound, a favorite film of Jacques's, was just born. In a few days he will be joined by Shadow, another character from the popular dog-themed Disney film.
"The whole thing just feels surreal,” Jacques told the Guardian. "I lost all sense of time. I have no idea how long everything took, the whole thing made me feel very disoriented. I was just clinging on to Richard for about an hour and a half after Chance was born."
Sooam, which is the only company of its kind, has already cloned (birthed? produced?) 700 dogs for commercial use.
"This is the first case we have had where cells have been taken from a dead dog after a very long time,: David Kim, a Soam scientist said. "Hopefully it will allow us to extend the time after death that we can take cells for cloning."
It's all a bit weird, but congratulations are in order to the dog-loving couple.
