Technology has hit a new milestone as China welcomes the country’s first cloned cat. According to the Chinese news outlet, The Global Times, Businessman Huang Yu was devastated when his British shorthair kitty named Garlic passed away from a urinary tract infection. Feeling like no pet could replace his favorite feline, he decided to pay 250,000 yuan ($35,400) to have his cat cloned.
Huang told The New York Times:
Global Times“In my heart, Garlic is irreplaceable. Garlic didn’t leave anything for future generations, so I could only choose to clone.”
To bring his cat back to life, Huang contacted Chinese tech giant, Sinogene.
The company has offered a pet cloning service since 2015. Up until this point, however, they focused on dogs. They’ve cloned at least 40 dogs, but with cats becoming more popular in China, they were eager to expand their services.
To clone Garlic, Sinogene collected cells from the recently deceased kitty and harvested eggs from other cats. They generated 40 cloned embryos and inserted them into four surrogate cats. They ended up with three pregnancies, but two ended in miscarriage. The fourth cat gave birth to Garlic’s clone, also named Garlic, on July 21.
The new Garlic has the exact DNA as the original, but there are also noticeable differences. One of the biggest is a missing black mark on the kitten’s chin. Huang said:
“If I tell you I wasn’t disappointed, then I would be lying to you. But I’m also willing to accept that there are certain situations in which there are limitations to the technology.”
Image Courtesy of New York Times
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REMEMBER: ADOPT, DON’T SHOP; FOSTERING SAVES LIVES & SPAY AND NEUTER!
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I sincerely hope with all my heart that this guy Loves this little kitten he had cloned…worries me he stated that he was dissappointed that the kitten didn’t have the spot on his chin that the first Garlic had…this Kitten has 100 % of the DNA Garlic …the original cat had….I sincerely pray that this person Loves unconditionally…is bonded to this sweet little Kitten that is Garlic’s Legacy
Why not however in some countries cats are not loved there too many so I say adopt spade and neuter. I love cats but I love all animals and it’s about time we pay them for helping safeguard the food supply.
There are already too many cats needing homes without cloning additional cats. We all love our animals and our humans but we live and we die. Would anyone clone their parents or their partner? I am also very concerned about about animal cruelty in the cloning labs. I love and miss my previous cats (all rescues) but sadly they don’t live as long as us. Would I clone them? No because they may not be the same as my previous cats and also because I’d rather remember them as they were, continue loving them but also give my love to a cat or cats who are
in need now.
Um, no. This does dishonor to the cloned kitty and pretends that a beloved cat can be replaced; they cannot. We’re blessed to be able to share our lives with each kitty that comes into our homes and we need to honor each fur baby as individual treasures and blessings.
just plain wrong when there are so many cats suffering all over the world. that money could have been used to help those poor animals, and we all know that the Chinese have no care or concern for animal testing so the cruelty to those poor animals in their labs is probably off the charts. selfish humans doing unethical things just because they can!
I’m concerned for the welfare of the donor and surrogate cats. It seems that they are just a commodity to be used in order to produce the cloned kitten. Likewise for any other cloned kittens resulting from this procedure. What happened to them? What about the cloned Garlic? If I understand cloning correctly, it will be carrying cells that are much older than it’s chronological age which could result in all sorts of health problems. There are so many cats and kittens needing loving, forever homes. It’s much better to adopt than shop.
Why not indeed I say, being the owner of many wonderful cats in my lifetime, there have been some that if I could I would clone for sure, YES YES YES, and also one or two horses, one I still have who is 30 next year, if I had the money I would clone him.
If this technology were available in a different country with adequate animal welfare rights, I’d consider it. After all, I love my cats more than my own life and no money is too much for them. I lost my beloved little Peach this summer and I kind of wish I could’ve cloned him. The loss of the original Peach would be a tad less painful that way. On the other hand, I don’t like how this man is disappointed in his old/new cat. Even though he’s the one who paid for the kitten, he doesn’t deserve him/her.
What do I think? I think that THIS mentality needs to change:
“The [surrogate] cat has no intrinsic value. It’s used as an object, as a means to somebody’s end.”
Other than that, I would TOTALLY want to clone my Feisty, when his time comes.