Replicated pet: The world’s first commercially cloned dog

A Californian woman has become the first person ever to receive a commercially cloned pet. Bernann McKinney paid £25k to have the genetic code in her deceased pet pitbull, Booger, replicated by the South Korean biotechnology company RNL Bio. Seoul National University, which works closely with RNL Bio, was responsible for the first cloned dog in 2005.

The laboratory is now turning its attention from research to the commercial possibilities of replicating genetic material. Following the cloning of Booger, RNL Bio has announced that it will look to clone up to 300 dogs per year, offering pet owners the chance for their deceased animals to be reborn. In other words, a pet dog really could be for life. The process could have dramatic changes on the existing ways pets are bred. The pet shop of the future, for instance, could be supplied by a biogenetics lab.