Have you ever had a pet that you wished you could have forever? Though a clone of that pet may sound great, genetic cloning is not the answer. Pets should not be genetically cloned because clones often suffer from health problems, they don’t have any of the same memories or personalities as the original animals, and there are already millions of pets in shelters that, if not given a home, will die. Why spend thousands of dollars to clone a pet when you can save the life of another animal who will make just as great a pet?
Studies have shown that about 95% of cloned animals die prematurely. A concern of the American Anti-Vivisection Society (or AAVS) is that “a significant number of cloned animals, as well as surrogate mothers who carry clone pregnancies, suffer serious and painful diseases and deformities to produce each ‘successful’ clone.” According to the Humane Society of the United States, 99% of cloning attempts fail to produce a healthy cloned animal, and no cloned animal has lived a full lifespan, so the health problems and veterinary needs they may experience later in life are completely unknown. Also, though few studies have been done on the health of the offspring of clones, all that have show that the
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Some people may say that they should act identically-- they do have the exact same DNA, which makes up who they are. But, according to Dr. Kim Matulef of Stanford University, experiences and memories also help determine how pets act. For example, she says, if a curious dog is sprayed by a skunk, he might become more nervous than the donor dog. gizmodo.com says that Joyce Bernann McKinney was very close to her calm rescue dog named Missy, who once saved her life, but was very displeased when his clone turned out rambunctious. The early years of Missy’s life had greatly affected his personality. Some clones have had malformations so that they don’t even look like the