A cloned dog is a dream for many pet owners who long for their little puppy back. Well that dream has become a reality for one woman from London! According to ABC News , Rebecca Smith, 29, is the proud mother of a newly cloned Dachshund . Smith was the winner of a contest that would clone her dog for free by a company in South Korea.
An earlier report by The Inquisitr stated that the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation of South Korea announced that they were holding a contest to clone one lucky pet owner’s dog for free – a process which normally costs around $100,000. The company accepted entries via their Facebook page and YouTube.
The lucky winner of that competition was Rebecca Smith, the owner of Winnie, a 12-year-old Dachshund. According to Metro , the cloned dog’s name is Mini Winnie .
“My sausage dog is very special but she is 12 and not going to be around forever. My boyfriend always joked ‘we need to get her cloned.’ Then I read an article about it and there was a competition to get your pet cloned. We sent in some videos and it just sort of snowballed from there!”
After being notified that her beloved Winnie had won Biotech’s contest, Smith said skin samples were taken and sent to the lab in South Korea. From there, Winnie’s cells were reportedly implanted in a donor dog’s eggs, one of the same breed as Winnie. According to Metro , “a spark of electricity then created a cloned embryo” which was then implanted into a surrogate dog. The Guardian continued on to say that little Mini Winnie was delivered by caesarean section.
“I saw it being born and it looks exactly like Winnie,” said Smith according to Metro . “It is identical. Personality-wise, I couldn’t tell you because it doesn’t see and it doesn’t hear yet – it is just a little sausage dog that wriggles around drinking milk. They are going to keep me updated with videos and photo and we will try to visit again in the next few months.”
While Smith seems overjoyed by her cloned dog, many are not. Cloning is a controversial topic in itself, but many believe that dog cloning isn’t a productive aspect of science to be investing in. Just check out what the Twitter world has to say:
Britain’s first cloned dog born – described ‘ridiculous waste of money’ – IT IS. So many rescue dogs need homes. http://t.co/f6OfbUDbAB
— Prof CatherineHarper (@ProfCathHarper) April 9, 2014
Why? It’s not like there aren’t plenty needing adoption. | Britain’s first dog cloned by controverisal scientist | http://t.co/XAd8lTlFvj
— William Newton (@wbdnewton) April 9, 2014
Anyone who wants their dog cloned should be signed up for euthanasia at the same time #weirdos
— Cynthia Mask (@RatuKatu) April 9, 2014
What do you think about cloned dogs? Or cloning in general? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
[Image via BBC Radio 5 Live Twitter Feed ]
