US dog lover clones pet five times

Published time: 5 Aug, 2008 10:16 Edited time: 5 Aug, 2008 14:16

A scriptwriter in Hollywood has become the first person to order a commercial firm to clone a pet. Bernann McKinney paid a Korean company US $50,000 for five copies of Booger – her beloved pit bull terrier who died recen

The lab used ear tissue from the diseased dog to re-create Booger. The five puppies were born from two surrogate mothers in late June, according to Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

McKinney was deeply attached to Booger (AFP Photo /
Kim Jae-Hwan)

“This is a miracle,” said the happy owner, who paid about $US 50,000 for the procedure. The firm actually cut its initial $US 150,000 price tag to celebrate what it calls the first commercial deal for a pet dog.

McKinney became deeply attached to Booger after it allegedly saved her life by chasing off a ferocious mastiff.

She says the puppies are exactly like him and she plans training some of them as service dogs for the handicapped or elderly.

Ra Jeong-Chang is the CEO of RNL Bio – the company that did the cloning for McKinney. He said his next project will be cloning camels for Middle East sheikhs.