A couple has welcomed Britain's first cloned dog after paying £67,000 (N20million) for their beloved dead dog to be replicated in a South Korean lab.
Laura Jacques and Richard Remede from West Yorkshire, flew to the clinic in Seoul for Christmas and yesterday saw their new pet called Chance delivered.
Chance was born by caesarean section at the Sooam Biotech Reserch Foundation and immediately began wriggling and squirming on his arrival. The dog has the exact same genetic make-up as the couple's former pet Dylan, who died from a brain tumour in June.
And Ms Jacques, 29, can't believe how much their new dog looks like their old pet.
She told the Sun on Sunday:
The clinic has also cloned another dog using Dylan's DNA, who they hope to call Shadow, and is due to be born on Tuesday.
Chance |
Laura Jacques and Richard Remede from West Yorkshire, flew to the clinic in Seoul for Christmas and yesterday saw their new pet called Chance delivered.
Chance was born by caesarean section at the Sooam Biotech Reserch Foundation and immediately began wriggling and squirming on his arrival. The dog has the exact same genetic make-up as the couple's former pet Dylan, who died from a brain tumour in June.
And Ms Jacques, 29, can't believe how much their new dog looks like their old pet.
She told the Sun on Sunday:
'We are so happy - it went really well.
'Even when the puppy was just a few minutes old I couldn't believe how much he looked like Dylan. All the colourings and patterns on his body are in exactly the same places as Dylan had them.'
Dylan |
To carry out the procedure, the couple took the DNA samples from Dylan themselves.
They were delighted when pregnancies were confirmed in two bitches using eggs carrying Dylan’s DNA.
Dr Woo Suk Hwang, the chief technical officer at Sooam Biotech, pioneered the technique in 2005.
His group is currently the only company in the world that offers dog cloning commercially.
The couple Laura Jacques and partner Richard Remede with Dr Woo Suk Hwang. |
The Sooam lab advises that by cloning a dog ‘we also heal the broken hearts’ of bereaved pet lovers and that it can clone any dog ‘no matter its age, size and breed’.
Dog owners whose pet has died are warned not to put their dead pet in the freezer – but wrap it in wet towels and put it in the fridge.
Around 700 dogs have been cloned by the lab to date.
DailyMail