A collage of seven identical-looking cats.

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Should You Clone Your Pet?

September 21, 2020

By Alessandra Potenza

Chris Wojdak Photography

The Tschirhart family with their cloned dog, Ziggy

To David and Alicia Tschirhart, their dog Marley was more than a beloved pet. He was also a lifesaver. In 2014, the couple were hiking with Marley near their home in California. Alicia, who was pregnant, bent down to pick up a stick. Suddenly, Marley started clawing the ground. A rattlesnake was near Alicia’s hand! Marley scared away the snake, possibly saving Alicia’s and the baby’s lives.

Sadly, the 12-year-old Labrador retriever died four months later. David and Alicia were devastated. But then David learned about ViaGen, a company in Texas that clones animals. Cloning is the process of making a living copy of a plant or an animal. Creating a copy of a pet can be expensive. ViaGen charges $50,000 to clone a dog! But to the Tschirharts, the price was worth it.

They welcomed Marley’s clone, Ziggy, into their family last year. Their two daughters love the new pet.

“Ziggy is so cute,” says 6-year-old Madeleine. “He looks just like Marley.”

But not everyone thinks cloning pets is ethical. Here are two views about cloning.

Cloning allows families to honor their beloved pets.

Scientists created the first mammal clone, a sheep named Dolly, in 1996. Since then, many types of animals have been cloned, for many purposes. Researchers use clones of mice and other animals to study human diseases and search for cures. To help their business, some farmers have cloned cows that produce more milk than others.

For pet owners, cloning can be a way to ease the grief of losing a favorite cat or dog. Dennis Milutinovich is the cloning lab manager at ViaGen. He says introducing families to their cloned pet is a joyful experience.

“Happy tears from both the owner and our staff are common,” he says.

David Tschirhart says he decided to clone Marley to honor his trusted dog’s memory.

“I’m so excited and happy about the fact that my daughters will be able to grow up with basically a twin of Marley,” he says.

Why choose such an expensive option when so many animals need homes?

Cloning is a complicated process that involves more than just the animal being cloned. And it can be stressful for those other animals, says Jessica Pierce. She is a professor of ethics at the University of Colorado, Denver. Cloning a dog that has died requires mixing a cell from the dog with a cell taken from a living dog. Together, those cells make an embryo. The embryos often don’t grow well, so the scientists need to start all over again.

Also, a cloned pet may look like the original, but there’s no guarantee it will have the same personality. That means even if the original dog was friendly, the clone might bark at everyone it sees.

Finally, Pierce says it’s wrong to spend thousands of dollars to clone a pet when you can adopt one from an animal shelter. “There are so many wonderful dogs and cats who need a family,” she says.