Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Clone Your Dog?

For $100,000, you can enter a contest in Korea to clone your dog.

Dogs are what the French call betes de chagrin, "beasts of regret." We form an attachment to our dogs as we would our family (I know that Zoey won't go to sleep at night until I come tuck her in and say good night), but we outlive them by a large margin. Who wouldn't want their beloved pet back?

But Zoey came into our life through a rescue agency. She wouldn't be with us today without the actions and kindness of a series of pet lovers: the patrol man that saved her off the side of the highway where she was abandoned; the rescue people who took her in; website where we found her. Now she's a beloved family member and training for her tracking certificate.

When she's gone, I'd love to have her back. But even more, I'd love to give another abandoned dog a home and chance at a loving life. The danger in cloning isn't that there's anything morally wrong with reproducing your dog: it's that fewer dogs will have the chance to become beloved family pets.


Young Zoey, when she joined our family.

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