A German Shepherd rescue dog used at the New York World Trade Center -9-11 site has won the distinction of being replicated.
Trakr the rescue dog proved to be such a hero that his owner James Symington of Los Angeles was chosen by BioArts International as the recipient of an expensive dog-cloning procedure. Trakr was chosen as most "clone-worthy" canine in a competition held by the California-based cloning firm.
Pet cloning is growing in popularity when it comes to replicating a beloved or special pet, but cloning of pets is nothing new. A Bay Area company in California (that is now out of business) cloned the first cat in 2001, for $32,000 U.S. In 2005, the first dog — an Afghan hound named Snuppy — was cloned by a Seoul National University lab in South Korea. That same lab, led by Professor Lee Byeong-Chung, has recently cloned a American woman's beloved pitbull terrier named Booger. Booger died in 2006, but DNA from the dog was used to clone pups that were born in July.
In Booger's case, three clones were conceived in two surrogate mother dogs. The company, RNL Bio, charged $150,000 U.S. to clone Booger, but later reduced the price to $50,000 U.S. because it was considered the world's inaugural commercial cloning.
"[Booger] was my partner, my pal, my friend," owner Bernann McKinney told a reporter. "We had 10 years together."
Booger saved McKinney's life when he chased away a vicious mastiff which had attacked her. Booger's DNA was taken from some of his ear tissue, which had been refrigerated.
As for Trakr, his DNA has been sent to a South Korean lab called Sooam Biotech Research. Trakr and Symington were some of the first rescuers to arrive at Ground Zero after the attacks, and they uncovered the last human survivor buried deep under approximately 30 feet of debris.
But 15-year-old Trakr developed a neurological disorder that is believed to be linked to his exposure to toxic fumes at the World Trade Center site, causing paralysis of his hind legs. It's a degenerative condition also caused by simple genetics, however, since some dog breeds are simply susceptible to the disorder.
But will the dog that comes back to Symington be an exact replica of his beloved Trakr?
Not necessarily.
He may look a lot like Trakr, say geneticists, but he probably won't act like him. It turns out that it takes more than DNA to replicate a dog. It takes the same memories and experience, which means that at the end of the day, there's just one Trakr.
