Four clients have signed up to duplicate their cats at a cost of U.S. $50,000 each, and work to reproduce the pets will begin immediately. Three cats owned by the company will also be copied.
The company is also working on duplicating dogs—specifically, a husky mix named Missy, whose owner, Arizona entrepreneur John Sperling, has pumped millions of dollars into the cloning project since it began in 1997. Missy died at age 15 in 2002, but tissue samples of her have been saved for cloning purposes.1
This practice is disgusting. I say so not because I loathe the animals it produces, but because I have absolutely no respect for the people who seek this procedure. This is proof that these despicably wealthy people are thoroughly selfish. I can empathize with loving a pet, and with mourning its loss, but attempting to "resume" the pet's life via its exact genetic replica, which sadly will likely be named for its genetic donor, is not an acceptable method of coping with grief.
What lesson are we to learn about life if we can simply make copies of those who pass away, especially if we name the offspring after their moulds as a way of pretending that they are who they are not? We begin to think that we need not be subject to the unfortunate effects of death. We will be in denial to ourselves. What will follow from this; will we begin to want to make "keepsake" copies of former lovers for whom our hearts still pine, loved ones who move away, or relatives with whom we have poor relationships?
Love your pet while he or she lives to be joyous company. Afterward, give your pet the dignified departure from this earth that he or she deserves, grieve as you must, and move on with life as you also must. Recognize and respect that your pet is a unique individual whose time on earth is limited. When the time comes for you and your pet to part, understand that you will never meet another exactly the same. Don't falsely try to hold on to those of whom you need to let go.
If you'd like to care for a successor, adopt an already living pet who is in need of a home. Let me toss out some numbers for you to consider. Cats can live to be up to twenty-five years old. A female can give birth to her first litter at the tender age of just four months old; from then on, she can have up to three litters per year. One female and her offspring can produce eighty thousand cats in seven years.2 Many under-funded shelters must rely on donations and volunteer staff and are simply exhausted of the resources necessary to provide long-term care for their endless waves of new arrivals. As a result, approximately 9.6 million animals are euthanized annually in animal shelters throughout the United States, including a whopping 71% of cats that enter the shelters.3
There are plenty of cats already in existence for everybody who wants one to have one. Open your heart and home to one of these, instead of shelling out more than the average annual income4 for yet another kitten to be forged.