“I Cloned My Pet” airs tonight
The Learning Channel airs an hour-long special on pet cloning tonight that looks at three dog owners who sought laboratory-made replicas of their deceased pets.
Judging from the little I’ve seen of it, I think the piece is likely to reinforce the notion that dog lovers who seek to “bring back” their pets are a pretty determined, if not rabid, lot. That notion, as anyone who has read my book knows, isn’t far off the mark.
As shown in “DOG, INC.: How a Collection of Visionaries, Rebels, Eccentrics and Their Dogs Launched the Commercial Dog Cloning Industry,” the customers seeking clones, the South Korean scientists who worked to make dog cloning a reality, and those who marketed the service, all had one thing in common — a strong, sometime boundary-exceeding will to make it happen.
Tonight’s TLC special, “I Cloned My Pet,” focuses primarily on Danielle Tarantola, who has received one clone of her dog, Trouble, and expects to soon to take delivery of a second.
But I’m curious to see if — in addition to showing cute puppies — the show will give equal time to the less than cute, often downright ugly, side of dog cloning: such as deaths and deformities, and how many dogs it takes to produce a single clone; such as what happens to surplus clones who don’t come out exactly right; such as what goes on to happen to the egg donor and surrogate dogs after they make their contribution to creating a clone in South Korea.
Trouble died three years ago and his owner’s home in Staten Island is still a veritable shrine to the canine. Trouble’s face graces the walls, and the comforter on her bed, in which she sleeps, or slept, beside an urn of his ashes every night.
She’d even saved the last piece of chicken the 18-year-old dog nibbled on.
Tarantola got a big discount on her cloning bill from South Korea’s Sooam Institute in exchange for cooperating with the makers of the documentary, so we’ll have to wait and see how objective she, and it, are.
I’m told the report also includes the stories of two other customers intent on getting their dogs cloned, one of whom is a California man featured in my book. The other is a New Mexico woman who had her dog cloned even as she faced a prison sentence of a duration that will likely preclude her from spending much quality time with his replica.
“I Cloned My Pet” airs tonight at 9 p.m. on TLC.
You can catch a sneak peak of it at People Pets.
You can expect me to weigh in on it in days ahead.
(Photo: Snuppy, the world’s first canine clone / By John Woestendiek)
Posted by jwoestendiek January 11th, 2012 under Muttsblog.
Tags: animals, author, book, business, canine, clone, cloned, clones, cloning, danielle tarantola, death, documentary, dog, dog cloning, dog inc., dogs, grieving, i cloned my pet, john woestendiek, loss, marketing, pets, science, south korea, television, the learning channel, tlc, trouble, tv
Comments
Comment from Kim
Time January 11, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Every time I see a picture of Snuppy, it breaks my heart.
Comment from Fran
Time January 11, 2012 at 5:21 pm
I saw you being interviewed on Good Morning America this morning. These people are nuts!
Comment from Kelli Smith
Time January 11, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I am watching the episode now and I am just so sad to see this happening. I’m in agreement with the post above that this desire to bring something back is a sickness. An obsessive disorder. And the fact that “scientists” are doing this just really makes me sad at the state of ethics. I’m am not particularly religious (well, at all actually) and my opinion has nothing to do with God’s will or anything like that. It’s more that there is an order to nature and so much of what we are trying to do scientifically (even with humans) just doesn’t feel right to me. It feels abusive, unnatural, selfish. I wish these people could understand that living a good life is reward enough. Death is a natural consequence of life… and there is just plain nothing wrong with that. I currently have a boxer that is not only one of the best dogs I’ve ever had, but one of the best dogs I’ve ever known… in all the dogs I’ve met in my 40+ years. I wouldn’t dream of attempting to clone her, as much as I will miss her so much when she’s gone. She came to me after my cousin passed away in a car accident and is a living reminder of him… and I still would never attempt to clone her. Her one life is a blessing/gift (however you want to look at it)… and I wouldn’t cheapen it by trying to make a copy of her. Also, the fact that these people are referring to themselves as the “parents” of these dogs… and calling them their “son” “child”, etc. That is troublesome (no pun intended to the mother of the cloned “Trouble” ha ha).
Comment from tara
Time January 19, 2012 at 3:09 am
Why don’t they follow these people and see how these dogs grow and see if the dog is exactly like theirold dog instead of rerunning the same thing over and over agian they got their cloned pets now lets follow their life..or do they have something to hide the scientests i mean
Comment from KMCA
Time April 12, 2012 at 10:14 am
I agree with ‘tara’. Is there an ‘update show’ in the making here? It would be facinating to see how the clones are now. I watched the show and have to mostly agree with prior posts. I think these people are ‘obessed’ to the point of having a similar mental condition like you;d see with people addicted to drugs, shopping, hoarding…etc. But at the same time, I love my cat and although he is healthy now; I know there will come a day when things are not so great. And its then I’ll wonder what it would be like to clone him and have an at least, ‘similar looking’ cat for another 15 years….not saying I’d do it; but also I can’t lie and say I don’t know where these people are coming from. I feel badly for them; their loss and how it has so impacted their lives. I know extremists will say thewse people will be going to H#ll for cloning animals; that its not ‘natrual’. Maybe they are right; becasue where is the ‘cloning’ line drawn? Lots of questions to be asked….
Comment from jwoestendiek
Time April 12, 2012 at 10:27 am
KMCA, I suggest this book: “DOG, INC.: How a Collection of Visionaries, Rebels, Eccentrics and Their Pets Launched the Commercial Dog Cloning Industry”
Comment from Anne’n'Spencer
Time January 11, 2012 at 10:15 am
It’s already had a two-minute sound bite on CNN’s tabloid sister, HLN, where it’s been duly pop-psychologized and a verdict has been rendered.
On CNN they didn’t get into the implications for the dogs at all–nothing about dogs destroyed, dogs “going away to live on nice farms,” dogs being made to suffer, dogs being kept in tiny cages–none of that made it to CNN.
I’ve decided that these actions are deeply repugnant to people I know who are dog lovers. The people Spencer and I meet at the dog park, or strolling around the complex here, or even here at ohmidog! are generally outraged and concerned when they hear of those things being done to dogs. I think most of us would rather steel ourselves for the inevitable, love our dogs while we have them, and eventually form new bonds with other dogs. Dog lovers don’t want any dogs to suffer.
I’ve concluded after reading your book a second time and watching/listening to all this info, that people who clone their pets are somehow sick. That woman doesn’t love her dog Trouble any more than I love Spencer or you love Ace, or anybody reading this loves their dog. She’s got some sort of obsession, she doesn’t mind that other dogs have had to suffer, and that’s not healthy.