Case for pet cloning: Meet the mineral-detecting pups from Saskatchewan

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Shaun Spelliscy recently cloned his dog, a part-Australian shepherd mix called Sydney, but unlike many who take this route to replace their beloved pets out of emotion, his motivation was entirely commercial.

“It was purely a business decision,” explains the owner of Gem Oil Inc., a mineral company in Northern Saskatchewan.

About eight years ago, Spelliscy discovered that his dog Sydney, whom he rescued from the streets of Mexico, had an amazing nose capable of sniffing out minerals buried below the earth. From that point, she became more than a companion for Spelliscy. Known for chasing away rats at the mining camps, now she was a prospector.

But Spelliscy didn’t discover Sydney’s talent until much later in her life and she was already spayed by that point, so letting her breed naturally wasn’t an option. She is getting older and is now blind, so Spelliscy says “we needed something to replace her.”

“We had gone through probably five or six different dogs, taking them through the basics, seeing if they could be as engaged in this as Sydney and we just didn’t have any luck,” he says, and this began his interest in cloning.

There are several companies in the world that clone pets and the process can run from US$35,000 for a cat, $50,0000 for a dog and $85,000 for a horse, making it often a pricey choice.

But besides the monetary issue there are others to consider, from the emotional ties to the original clone, to the possible side effects and the ethical implications of this decision.

There are many commercial reasons for animal cloning, from livestock breeding to competition use, as well as medical or scientific uses, such as animal organs for transplantation and preserving endangered species.

For Spelliscy, cloning was the simplest and cheapest option for him when it came to replicating Sydney’s unique sniffing talents, so he had a local veterinarian complete the necessary biopsies and in 2019 the samples were sent, analyzed and stored in a lab in Austin, Tex.-owned by Viagen Pets and Equine, the only commercial pet cloning company in North America.

Last year, Spelliscy and Sydney flew to Rochester, N.Y., to retrieve Sydney’s clones, Olivia and Fiona, who not only possess their original clone’s unique traits, but Spellscy says he “actually thinks the puppies are better than she is.”

“I would have paid ten times that amount to get these results.”

For those who are considering cloning for emotional reasons, unable, perhaps, to face the loss of a beloved pet, there are issues to consider.

The first of these is that you are never going to get the exact same pet again. Rather there is “a spark of the original” in the cloned iteration, according to Melain Rodriguez, client service manager at Viagen Pets and Equine.

“We want to make sure our clients understand that this is a replica, not a reincarnation,” says Rodriguez. “You’re not replacing that exact dog. It’s not going to know who you are, it’s not going to know things that the original dog knew, but it’s the little tiny version of that original pet and it’s comforting knowing that every cell in that clone’s body came from that original pet.”

To conceive these pets, the majority of the upfront work is done in a lab, where cultures of cells are grown, preserved in liquid nitrogen. If the owner moves on the cloning stage, there are host animals that take the cells from petri dish to pet.

“Surrogates are held in a biosecure facility,” explains Rodriguez. “The thing about the surrogate is that they have to be very healthy, so we have to control that environment.”

“People hear that word ‘biosecure’ and they get scared by it because it sounds like a laboratory,” she continues. “It’s more like a cattery or a kennel environment, but it’s large and they have space and they’re housed in social groups so they’ve got friends and toys and a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-and-week care staff.”

Some of the surrogate animals are available for adoption afterwards.

However, it is this element of the pet cloning – the need for that other animal – that many may not be aware of and has those in the bioethics world debating the motivation, necessity and morality of pet cloning.

Kerry Bowman is a bioethicist and professor at the University of Toronto and says that while he sees the appeal of cloning one’s pet, there are other aspects to consider, not the least of which is the lives of the surrogates.

“It’s not just about you and your dog,” says Bowman. “You have to have an egg donor of a canine, and a surrogate, and success rates are rising … but they’re still not great. Some people say 25 per cent, but it’s nowhere near even 50 per cent.”

There is also no consent from these animals to live this life, explains Bowman.

“So you’re sort of creating this cast or class of commodified, almost slave-like dogs that are being used as body parts in a sense … and pregnancy loss and still-born pups are not uncommon,” he adds.

Bowman’s suggestion is that if people are willing to spend this kind of money on cloning their pet, they should consider how far their money could go in the adoption process and look at adding a rescue to their family. He also cautions against valuing your pet not for what they are, but what they represent.

“I think if a lot of people knew the ins and outs of it, they wouldn’t go for it.”

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