BioArts, a California based company, recently held an essay contest that asked “Why Does your Dog Deserve to Be Cloned?” and as the prize, offered to preserve the dog’s DNA and clone it. The winner is a Canadian search and rescue dog named Trakr. Trakr is a 15 year old German Shepard who helped rescue the last survivor from the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
BioArt will send Trakr’s DNA to its South Korean partner, the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, and Trakr’s clone should be ready by the end of the year.
Trakr’s owner, ex-police officer James Symington, joyfully declared, “Trakr means the world to me. To know that part of him is going to live on is just beyond words. It’s the greatest gift I’ve every received.”
What do you think? Wasteful? Exciting? Flying cars and bad business for the taxidermy industry?
The future is going to be a strange place.
