mukooh

Cloned Cat Sale Generates Ethics Debate




cloning, why not, if you've got the cash.....i'm for it....complete story below......

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._sc/cloned_cat

LittleMilkJug

If people are prepared to pay $50,000 for a cloned kitty, believe me cloning will go ahead. People can argue all they want with the ethics, but when there is a lot of money involved, things 'strangely' go ahead.

*Ledi*

Wow.

Jerry D

That's pretty crazy, but people definitely do get attached to their pets, so I can see this becoming something wealthy people will want to do to somehow bring back a beloved pet with an exact clone of that pet.

TokyoNiGHTS

Now maybe we're getting closer to being able to clone me a Kate Beckinsale.

Phébé la Frenchie

This seems a bit dumb to me. I tend to think the death of a pet can be a positive thing because it helps people to learn to deal with loss.
And anyway, it's not like you're getting your pet back, you're just getting an animal that looks exactly like your pet back. Why not go to an animal shelter and save an animal that resembles your old pet? But that would be the idealist in me talking.

Monroe

You can't clone a soul. I think people do it for the wrong reasons. They want back what they lost which you will never completly be able to do. Like, the essence of who I am and why I act the way I do isn't related entirly to my gene pool.

No1important

I worry in a way, that this is just the beginning of cloning.dolly the sheep, a cat, so a human next? I hope not but I am sure some "mad" scientist somewhere is working on it.

ceilirose

I heard $100,000 for a dog clone on the news. As an animal lover it sounds tempting but like others have said it can't bring back the animal's soul.

Personally the $50,000 would have been better served by a donation to animal shelters or sterilizing cats/dogs to deal with overpopulation.

Messed Up Girl

I don't see how cloning animals is harmless but in my opinion, I believe the issue is with their misguided attempts to bring back their actual pet. No matter what you do, you'll never get the same cat or dog. But I guess that if the person has no problems with it (and enough money), there's nothing wrong with it.

However, now that a kitten has actually been cloned and the whole procedure proven possible, I'm worried about the implications that this has caused. How soon will it be before we start dishing out to clone people?

alli balli

That's stupid. Haven't these people ever heard of the nature vs. nurture debate? Genetic structure doesn't determine everything.

Mandy Renay

The whole thing just freaks me out.

pixiedude

I'm afraid the buyer is going to be disappointed. The copycat won't have the experiences and memories of the original. The owner will have years of memories of closeness with the cat, while the cat will have no experience with the owner. From my experience, it takes a couple of years to really bond with a cat.

And it is impossible to recreate the previous cat's life experiences, even if that combination would reproduce virtually the same cat. It may grow up to be a great cat, but it won't grow up to be the *same* cat.

Hear, Hear! All my cats have been adopted strays. There are a whole pride of alley cats that live behind my building. There are a number of animal shelters that would be ecstatic to get 50K.

Over the years, I have become closer to my cat friends than to my human friends. I had one cat for 17 years, and my current cat for 15. The thought of having a clone of her made almost seems disrespectful of her memory.

foreva_99

It is beyond me that someone could spend that much money on an animal. I would never do something like that. It amazes me.

Hot Like Fire

I love my pet but I would never pay 50,000 for a clone that is just insane