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Retired police officer James Symington celebrates a day in the park with his five dogs. The dogs were cloned from his deceased canine partner of 15 years, a dog who served as a hero during the 9/11 tragedy. Mr. Symington won a cloning contest sponsored by a Californian company that allowed him to afford the expensive process to revive his best friend.  (Source: LA Times)
James Symington lost one best friend, but now he has five new ones

The field of pet cloning is one of those moral gray areas that has some crying foul, while others have considered it themselves.  Wherever your opinions lie, it's hard not to feel a bit moved by the story of James Symington, a veteran Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canadian) police officer.  

For years Mr. Symington fought street crime with his loyal partner and companion Trakr, a German shepherd.  The pair saw a lot of action, seizing an estimated $1M USD in stolen goods over the dog's 15 year career.  Trakr's biggest time in the spotlight came during the 9/11 tragedy in 2001, when Mr. Symington and Trakr were emergency mobilized to help search for survivors.  Searching through the still smoldering rubble, Trakr found the last survivor to be pulled from the rubble alive.

An animal hero, if there ever was one, Trakr passed away last year.  Recalls Mr. Symington, "Once in a lifetime, a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a private role in history."

Heartbroken, he retired from the police force and he and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California.  However, they didn't forget about their four legged friend.  They saved tissue samples and entered the "Golden Clone Giveaway" essay contest sponsored by California company BioArts International, a firm that clones pets.  

The firm is partnered with a South Korean company led by scientist Hwang Woo-suk, disgraced for making false claims of human cloning.  The team led by Woo-suk performs the cloning for Bioarts, with average cloning costs being around $144,000 USD per animal.  According to Lou Hawthorne, Bioarts' CEO, cloned dogs typically cost $138,500.

Mr. Symington won the contest and received the gift of having Trakr cloned for free.  The cloning was a success and he and his wife are now the new happy owners of five puppies.  Mr. Symington named the new dogs after Trakr's attributes -- Trustt, Valor, Solace, Prodigy and Deja Vu.  He states, "I always knew he'd be with me as long as I needed him.  I think he waited and made sure the time was right."

The cloning makes for an intriguing human interest story at it also illustrates the amazing and at times shocking advances of modern technology.  With cutting edge medical technology scientists are finding ways to escape the rules of nature, even approaching transcendence of death itself.


 

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Cheat death?
By lebe0024 on 6/19/2009 10:11:23 AM , Rating: 5
Trakr died, and was not resurrected. These are five genetic copies.




RE: Cheat death?
By Spivonious on 6/19/2009 10:19:15 AM , Rating: 5
Exactly. There are zero guarantees that these five dogs will act like Trakr did.

He should have been a hero himself and adopted some dogs from his local humane league.


RE: Cheat death?
By therealnickdanger on 6/19/2009 11:08:52 AM , Rating: 5
WWBBD?

(What Would Bob Barker Do?)


RE: Cheat death?
By Smartless on 6/19/2009 3:25:51 PM , Rating: 2
Bob Barker or Brian Boitano. haha.

You know if they really are clones, wouldn't the clones look all alike or else what would be the point? Like everyone else said, it won't necessarily act like the original, just look like it.


RE: Cheat death?
By teldar on 6/20/2009 12:55:45 PM , Rating: 3
Actually, it won't necessarily look that much like it either. The cloned off spring could still look somewhat different from the original. Coloration could be different as well as general size.


RE: Cheat death?
By AstroCreep on 6/19/2009 8:47:46 PM , Rating: 2
Well, hopefully Mr. Symington will have all of these puppies spayed and neutered.


RE: Cheat death?
By jonmcc33 on 6/20/2009 10:31:28 AM , Rating: 2
If they are genetic clones then they will all be males. How can a male dog be spayed?


RE: Cheat death?
By AstroCreep on 6/20/2009 1:58:56 PM , Rating: 3
...very carefully...

I dunno man, I was using the Bob Barker comment!


RE: Cheat death?
By tdawg on 6/19/2009 11:57:06 AM , Rating: 3
There was a great This American Life story about a rancher that had a beloved bull that was just a big pet. It was friendly to everyone. When it died, he and his wife missed it so much that they paid to have it cloned.

They got their clone--it looked the same--but unfortunately, the personality of the parent just didn't transfer to the child and this guy practically killed himself trying to get the same behavior out of his clone. He was seriously injured by the bull's horns on several occasions until they had to put it down or slaughter it for food.

A heartbreaking story, but one that illustrates some of the facts of cloning that people just don't understand.


RE: Cheat death?
By omnicronx on 6/19/2009 12:11:23 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
A heartbreaking story, but one that illustrates some of the facts of cloning that people just don't understand.
Sad part is, this is fairly obvious. Separate Twins at birth raise them by two different families, and aside from their outward appearance, the two could be totally different. The way you are raised during the cognitive development years play a huge role. In fact there were identical twins in my highschool that did not know each other until their teen years. After 15 years of being apart they were totally different. One weighed 100 pounds more than the other because they had completely different lifestyles growing up.


RE: Cheat death?
By VoodooChicken on 6/19/2009 12:44:24 PM , Rating: 4
You don't even have to separate and raise twins differently for this effect. Not even couting the fraternals, there were 4-5 sets of identical twins in my high school class, and I think maybe one set could be accused of being clones of each other. All were individuals with unique personalities, had different classes, and some were even divided up into honor and regular classes. Some played sports and some were in the band. Yet each set were raised within the same household at the same time. I think maybe only one had divorced parents then, but each environment produced two unique individuals.


RE: Cheat death?
By Davelo on 6/19/2009 2:15:30 PM , Rating: 3
Any chances these five genetically derived science lab pooches will turn out evil and basically go Kujo or pet cemetery?


RE: Cheat death?
By jconan on 6/19/2009 7:42:29 PM , Rating: 1
there are some subtle differences in the fur even though they are supposedly clones. aren't clones suppose to be perfect copy of the original then? so these can't be clones...


RE: Cheat death?
By tmouse on 6/19/2009 10:51:44 AM , Rating: 2
Exactly, he did NOT get Trakr back, he got 5 of Trakr's brothers. As an aside if Trakr had an Identical twin that twin would probably be genetically closer than any of these clones.


RE: Cheat death?
By omnicronx on 6/19/2009 11:10:47 AM , Rating: 3
They are genetically identical, so your statement that a identical twin would be genetically closer is just plain wrong.

Really sad story though =/ My shepherd died of the exact same thing, i.e lost the use of his back legs. Apparently many shepherd's get the same degenerative neurological disorder when they get older. 15 is actually really old for shepherd.


RE: Cheat death?
By dragonbif on 6/19/2009 12:07:06 PM , Rating: 2
The loss of the back legs can happen in any of the bigger dogs. I had to put down my dalmation because of it 2 years ago =(


RE: Cheat death?
By omnicronx on 6/19/2009 12:18:49 PM , Rating: 3
Any big dog can be affected, although it is far less likely. The frequency in which it occurs with German Shepherds dwarfs any other breed of dog.

http://neuro.vetmed.ufl.edu/neuro/DM_Web/DMofGS.ht...


RE: Cheat death?
By theapparition on 6/19/2009 3:04:26 PM , Rating: 2
The reason GS dogs are so prone to hip displacia is the breed standard. They are bred (according to the standard) to have a sloping hindquarter with narrow hips. This trait is encouraged and breeders aim for it. Only within the last few decades are people realizing that this has caused a signifigant weakening of the breedline. Other problems, such as the one you sited have also been on the rise for GSDs.

All the GS dogs I have I've tried to make sure the parents don't directly conform to the standard and have larger squared hips rather than the diminutive ones. Lukily, I've never had a problem.

German Shepherds of all the breeds are easily the most versitile dog. No other breed has the capacity for working, specialization, and general companionship that the GS does. It's a shame so many are bred towards disease.


RE: Cheat death?
By borismkv on 6/19/2009 12:28:15 PM , Rating: 3
Hip dysplasia is extremely common in the older breeds like German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers. Inbreeding has major disadvantages.


RE: Cheat death?
By bhieb on 6/19/2009 12:40:49 PM , Rating: 3
As an aside to my below post.

So by this rational lets just pretend Trakr lived to 25 with no leg problems. Now being that he was most likely fixed at a young age (most K9 dogs are I assume), and therefore never able to pass on this genetic gift. That may be a trait rare enough that having 5 sires with similar genetics would warrant a clone. I don't know how the dog world works, but it may actually pay for the $144K fee, in stud fees and selling the other 4.

This is obviously not the case here, but just saying that cloning has benefits. There are aspects of a breed that are genetic and not environmental. Certainly won't be the same dog, but there is 0 risk of them being genetically deficient. You are guaranteed to start from the same template, the same cannot be said for the pound dog.


RE: Cheat death?
By tmouse on 6/19/2009 2:34:37 PM , Rating: 4
Actually you fell into the trap I set for my students. I am a molecular genetics researcher and I work on stem cells and cancer. In fact you have two sources of DNA in your cells, in the nucleus you have the DNA which comes, for the most part, in equal amounts from your father and mother, this is the DNA that is used to clone an animal. Your mitochondria is the other source, it in fact comes only from your mother (it is in the ova). Unless they cloned the dog using an ova from its mother or sister an Identical twin would be genetically closer.

You lose 10 points from the exam. ; )


RE: Cheat death?
By tmouse on 6/19/2009 4:30:39 PM , Rating: 3
On another note there are two other sources of potential differences, although there is currently no supporting evidence one way or the other. First it is not uncommon to use epithelial cells for cloning procedures. These cells commonly are exposed to more environmental stresses which can and do form adducts and base transitions. A clone from a single cell could have several differences since all of their cells would contain any errors the single cell had at the time of its harvest. Second terminally differentiated cells contain an epigenetic footprint which has to be reversed to become totipotent. This footprint is made in part via DNA methylation. There are inherent errors during replication of methylated DNA leading to base transitions. Its small but it does happen and while this is no big deal for single cells it can and probably is if you plan to make an entire organism from this single cell. This is why a 300 to 1 ratio is still considered good for cloning.


RE: Cheat death?
By bhieb on 6/19/2009 12:14:37 PM , Rating: 3
Correct that these are not the same dog, but the potential to be very similar is what is important. No different than the selective breeding that made the shepards the dogs they are.

Every time you purchase a pure breed dog, regardless of the purpose, you taking a genetic gamble of the dogs potenial. The mother of father may exhibit certain traits you'd like to see in offspring, so you risk it and hope the dog turns out like mom and dad. Here you just minimize that gamble. You are working with an exact genetic copy, the dog at the pound argument is flawed in that it assumes any old dog can result in the same performance. This does not guarantee it, but it does buy some insurance.

Now that I've played devil's advocate, I think it is a complete waste.


RE: Cheat death?
By tmouse on 6/19/2009 2:40:04 PM , Rating: 3
The real problem is cloned animals still for the most part exhibit varying degrees of organomegaly, many times this does not exhibit itself until sexual maturity. They also seem to have a higher preponderance for developing tumors, possibly because the procedure does not completely reverse the genomic imprinting mammals have on their genomes so they already have the first hit for the two hit hypothesis.


Epic fail.
By Motoman on 6/19/2009 11:25:13 AM , Rating: 4
I get the sentiment about the original heroic dog. By all means, record the dog's deeds in the annals of history and sing songs in his honor.

But I don't have the slightest time for morons who waste enormous amounts of money on cloning a dead pet. As noted elsewhere, a "clone" has not the slightest extra percentage of being "like" the original dog, in any manner other than superficial looks, than any other random dog. And there are vast numbers of dogs (and cats and horses and whatever) in shelters that desperately need homes and/or funding for food and healthcare...which would have been an INFINITELY better place to expend the resources (i.e. dollars) that it cost to do this cloning.

I understand that the guy didn't pay for the cloning himself, but the actual process is highly expensive anyway. Whatever amount of money it cost, whether $1,000 or $1,000,000, would have been vastly better spent through the Humane Socieity, as an example.




RE: Epic fail.
By wrekd on 6/19/09, Rating: 0
RE: Epic fail.
By Motoman on 6/19/2009 12:18:26 PM , Rating: 2
Pick one. I am quite confident that you will not find any source that will show that a clone of an animal has any particular prediliction to mirror the characteristics of the original. Even the appearance, while generally similar, is likely to be different (different markings on the dog or cat, for example).


RE: Epic fail.
By Danger D on 6/19/2009 2:29:28 PM , Rating: 2
I agree that cloning dogs is stupid, but I would say a clone does have the "slightest extra percentage of being 'like'"the original dog.

Nurture is very important, probably more important. But genes play some role.


RE: Epic fail.
By mindless1 on 6/20/2009 3:14:18 PM , Rating: 2
They play a role in physical structure, not learned behavior (what some humans call personality).


RE: Epic fail.
By Danger D on 6/22/2009 12:54:44 PM , Rating: 2
They would play a role in your natural IQ, your ability to learn a behavior.

Again, nurture is crucial, but it's dumb to say your genes have absolutely zero effect on any traits related to personality.


RE: Epic fail.
By eddieroolz on 6/21/2009 1:21:49 AM , Rating: 2
My opinion regarding the animals in shelter and such is, why not fight the problem at the source?

Animal adoption is one of the problems in today's society that people advocate fighting with band-aid solutions and not tackle the fundamental problem itself. Everywhere I hear people say, "adopt this Easter" and such. Which is perfectly fine, but that's still nothing more than a band-aid solution.

What we need to do is start attacking at the fundamental source - parents buying pets for kids and later realizing that its not right for them, among others causes. We need better educate people and provide some sort of a solution so that they don't end up putting another dog into a shelter.


RE: Epic fail.
By AEvangel on 6/22/2009 3:00:49 PM , Rating: 2
I agree also allow local states and municipalities to tax purchase of pets from pet stores. A simple sales tax on the purchase to go to shelters and education programs for the local public.

I also think they should stop people from giving away free animals through newspapers or at stores. I find it hilarious the # of people giving away free pets with no concern if the new owner will spay/neuter the animal or even take care of it. I have rescued animals from the side of the road and I personally make sure they are spayed or neutered before they get adopted out.


Clones? they dont look the same
By StraightPipe on 6/19/2009 10:45:50 AM , Rating: 2
By StraightPipe on 6/19/2009 10:46:37 AM , Rating: 2
In theory these are basically supposed to be identical twins (though they may act different)


RE: Clones? they dont look the same
By Stuka on 6/19/2009 1:26:13 PM , Rating: 2
lol Yeah, looks like he got 5 free puppies from a Korean puppy mill.


By kyleb2112 on 6/20/2009 4:26:56 AM , Rating: 2
Because the clones have no soul.


Overloards
By KeithP on 6/19/2009 11:59:27 AM , Rating: 2
I welcome our new unholy cloned mutant dog overlords.

-KeithP




RE: Overloards
By Titanius on 6/19/2009 1:08:32 PM , Rating: 1
What's that, you want me to pet you? Yes master! Oops, I am sorry master, I meant, woof woof woof!

/End Sarcasm

They might be unholy (What makes them unholy anyways? Did they unholy your holy water or something?) and cloned but they aren't mutants, just regular dogs sharing the same genetic makeup as the original dog.

Following the religious (catholic as I'm familiar with it) thought about animals, they are not like us, they won't go to heaven or whatnot, so by your reasoning there is nothing wrong with cloning them as they are not people.


RE: Overloards
By masouth on 6/19/2009 1:59:49 PM , Rating: 2
Wow!

I always love watching extremist fly off the handle at absolutely nothing.

Shame on KeithP for not using /sarcasm or /joke so small, closed minds could understand.

/eyeroll


so cute
By GlassHouse69 on 6/19/2009 4:31:43 PM , Rating: 1
does anyone realize how many dead little puppies it takes to get one clone to live?

oh so worth it, so cute, so much typical selfish desire to restore a love object.

people have no souls besides their open gaping mouths that need to be crammed with shit they must buy.




RE: so cute
By mindless1 on 6/20/2009 3:15:37 PM , Rating: 2
Are you throwing stones?


its coming
By Mojo the Monkey on 6/19/2009 7:28:38 PM , Rating: 2
Soon we will sit back and watch as our super-clones defend us from the sentient machines. The winner can enslave the human race. I'll guesstimate 2060.




Photoshop
By InternetGeek on 6/21/2009 8:50:30 PM , Rating: 2
There's something around the guy's neck that makes the photo looks like a crude photoshop...




so..
By MrPoletski on 6/22/2009 7:45:06 AM , Rating: 2
why not clone some einsteins and bung em in the best school we got? =)




By DonkeyRhubarb on 6/19/2009 10:52:54 AM , Rating: 5
Ah but who doesn't love puppies????? :D


By kattanna on 6/19/2009 11:05:52 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
Ah but who doesn't love puppies????? :D


true. some people say they are very tasty


By ClownPuncher on 6/19/2009 12:01:04 PM , Rating: 2
If it was a waste of money, why is the guy smiling in the picture?


By acase on 6/19/2009 12:45:00 PM , Rating: 3
A little well placed peanut butter?


By cparka23 on 6/19/2009 2:47:43 PM , Rating: 3
Because he didn't pay for any of it.

Free loot doesn't mean he can't enjoy it, but ~$700,000 for a PR stunt is a waste of money if you put a price tag on ONE deceased animal. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs and have two of my own. This, however, is what happens when people lose a sense of reality.


By theapparition on 6/19/2009 3:10:33 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
This, however, is what happens when people lose a sense of reality.

You mean like being fined 1.9 milion for sharing 24 songs?


By AstroCreep on 6/19/2009 8:51:18 PM , Rating: 1
Yes, well, these dogs didn't come out of a womb, they came out of a test tube. ;)

/jokes


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