There has been much discussion about the potential of the technique and its ethical ramifications ever since Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned using an adult cell, was made public in 1996.
From the Afghan hound puppy “Snuppy” to sheep, piglets, mice, cows, and even macaque monkeys, the variety of species scientists have cloned has only increased. Pets like dogs and cats are now a new, commercial market for the technology.
A unique clinic in the UK is giving pet owners the chance to clone their beloved animals, offering a second chance to cuddle up with a genetic copy of their furry friends.
Gemini Genetics, located on a farm in Shropshire, originally opened in 2019, focusing on artificial insemination for breeding show horses. Today, the clinic has expanded its services to include pet cloning, becoming Europe’s only facility of its kind.
The cloning company uses a deceased pet’s DNA to make a genetically identical replica in their facility. After the pet dies, it must be taken within five days. The company has a cloned cocker spaniel roaming around called Gem, who started life as a mere piece of another dog’s ear tissue.
“Gem is actually a present from one of our clients because she’s a clone of a working cocker spaniel,” Lucy Morgan, the manager of the UK-based company Gemini Genetics, told The Guardian.
“We get photos and things [from owners], but actually having a cloned pet that I can remember the day that her original skin sample came in… yeah, she’s really quite special,” Morgan adds.
According to The Guardian, Pet cloning has become big business in the US, with Barbra Streisand and Paris Hilton among its early adopters. Yet cloning animals is banned in the UK, except for research purposes. Even then, Home Office approval is required. As a result, Gemini Genetics does not conduct cloning itself but does facilitate the process and has done so for about 30 such animals so far.