Dead dog's owner creates FIVE cloned puppies of her beloved pet

13 April 2012

Five pit bull terrier puppies have been born in the world’s first cloning of a pet dog for a paying customer.


They are the genetic doubles of Booger, a pit bull whose death from cancer two years ago left his owner Bernann McKinney so bereft that she sold her house to raise the £25,000 needed to – in her eyes – bring him back to life.

Miss McKinney, who credited Booger with saving her life when she was mauled by a mastiff three times her size, said: 'Booger was my partner and my friend. They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person.’

'I had to make sacrifices and I dream of the day, some day, when everyone can afford to clone their pet because losing a pet is a terrible, terrible loss to anyone.'

Bernann McKinney holds one of the clones of her deceased dog Booger

Bernann McKinney holds one of the clones of her deceased dog Booger

The 57-year-old Californian scriptwriter has named the puppies Booger McKinney, Booger Lee, Booger Ra, Booger Hong and Booger Park, after herself and the South Korean scientists behind their birth.

RNL Bio, the Seoul cloning company, said the process was so straightforward it could clone 300 dogs a year for bereaved pet owners around the world.

Duplicate camels for Middle Eastern customers also figure in RNL Bio’s plans.
Animal charities last night condemned the practice as ‘abhorrent’

The technology, the same as that used to create Dolly the Sheep, brings with it high risk of miscarriage and still birth - and for those creatures that do survive, ill health and premature death.

A piece of Booger's ear was used to create five clones

A piece of Booger's ear was used to create five clones

In May, US firm BioArts announced the birth of the world's first commercially cloned dogs.

The three puppies were copies of a collie-huskie cross which belonged to the mother of the head of the firm -  allowing RNL Bio to lay claim to being the first to commercially clone a pet dog.

The Booger puppies, who were born last week, have black coats and identical white spots below their necks.

Ms McKinney, a 57-year-old former beauty queen, said Booger, a stray she rescued from a dog's home, became an indispensable part of her life after intervening in the mastiff attack which led to one of her hands being amputated.

When she was left wheelchair-bound following reconstructive surgery, the pit bull became her hands and legs, fetching clothes from the dryer and drinks from the fridge, opening doors and taking off her shoes, she said.

The five cloned puppies with their surrogate mother at the Seoul National University in South Korea

The five cloned puppies with their surrogate mother at the Seoul National University in South Korea

'I wanted my friend back,' she said. 'Booger taught me I could do anything I could do before the accident. I just had to figure out a different way to do it.'

When her beloved Booger became ill with cancer, Miss McKinney had skin cells taken from him and frozen in the hope that science would come to her aid.

After plans to duplicate Booger in the US failed, she turned to RNL Bio, which is staffed by former colleagues of Hwang Woo-suk, the now disgraced scientist who produced Snuppy, the first cloned dog, in 2005.

Scientists then inserted the cells into hollowed-out eggs.

The eggs were blasted with electricity to induce fertilisation and the healthiest fledgling embryos transferred into two surrogate mothers.

Two months later, they give birth.

Although many dogs have been cloned since Snuppy, this is said to be the first commercial birth.

Scientist Lee Byeong-chun said all five puppies are healthy, although there are slight variations in weight. 

Tests have confirmed they are genuine clones.

Ms McKinney, who will be able to take her new pets home next month, said their birth healed the pain of Booger's death.

'It is a miracle for me because I was able to smile again, laugh again and just feel alive again,' she explained.

Bernann McKinney shows pictures of her beloved former pitbull terrier, alongside the puppies

Bernann McKinney shows pictures of her beloved former pitbull terrier, alongside the puppies

On first seeing them in a Seoul laboratory, she repeatedly shouted 'It's a miracle'.

'Yes, I know you!  You know me too!' she said hugging the tiny black creatures.

Ms McKinney sold her house to pay the £25,000 bill, after receiving a special rate for publicising the company.

However, other customers can expect to pay as much as £75,000, although the price should drop as the technology develops.

But last night, animal charities condemned the enterprise, saying the cloning of animals was mired in serious ethical and welfare concerns.

RSPCA senior scientist Penny Hawkins said: 'Cloning dogs as pets is abhorrent to the RSPCA.

'I can't believe that any true dog lover would condone causing suffering to dogs and wasting their lives for such a trivial and selfish purpose, particularly when animal shelters worldwide have thousands of dogs who need loving homes.

'In any case, a cloned animal is never going to be an exact copy of the original pet.

'There is much more to an animal than its DNA and cloned dogs will inevitably have different life experiences, resulting in animals with different personalities.'

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