Kristy
08-08-2005, 11:21 AM
Sunday, August 07, 2005
BY JOE ELIAS
Of The Patriot-News
Eloyce Spong said the thought of ensuring Amanda, her beloved Maltese, would always be around is intriguing. Or at least the thought of having a dog that looked like Amanda.
"If I could have a lot of my little dogs running around, I think I would," said Spong, of Lower Allen Twp., as she watched Amanda romp with the other dogs yesterday at the township's dog park, Doggie Dugout.
But Spong said she also worried the same technology that could clone Amanda could also be used for less well-intentioned purposes.
"Where do you draw the line?" Spong asked. "I'd be afraid people would try to clone violent animals or worse yet, try to clone other people."
Cloning was the topic on the minds of dog owners at the park, since the announcement last week that a stem-cell scientist in South Korea created Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog. Sheep, frogs and mice had been cloned before, but never man's best friend.
Scientists duplicated the Afghan hound, born 14 weeks ago, using a skin cell plucked from another hound. The two dogs are three years apart but genetically identical, right down to their tan eyebrows.
The cloned puppy was the lone success from more than 100 dogs implanted with more than 1,000 cloned embryos.
Dog owners said the idea of cloning their prized pooches interested them, but they wanted guarantees before they would seriously entertain the idea.
Michele St. Mary of Mechanicsburg said she would like nothing more than to give Chase, her beagle-basset hound mix, his leg back.
She adopted Chase from a puppy mill, where he dislocated his hip by catching it on the wire cage he lived in. St. Mary said Chase's left rear leg was later removed.
But Chase still runs with his four-legged counterparts and jumps on the picnic tables at the park when he's had enough.
While a clone of Chase might have four legs, St. Mary worries it wouldn't be the same.
"If you could guarantee me the personality would be the same, I'd think about it," St. Mary said. "But I think I'd rather leave well enough alone. It just wouldn't be natural to me."
David Wolfgang, a professor of veterinary science at Penn State University, said St. Mary's concerns were correct: The cloned dogs would look identical, but that's where the similarities would end.
"To get the same exact dog, you would have to duplicate all the same experiences that went into raising the original dog," Wolfgang said.
For Jim and Debbie Ryave, their pug puppies, Dolly Madison and Daisy May look enough alike to them.
Born two weeks apart, the 4-month-old puppies share the same father and the same hatred of being on a leash.
The Ryaves, of Chester County, came to the dog park for a meeting of the Central Pennsylvania Pug Club.
"It's the personality that matters most. You can't clone that in a dog," said Debbie Ryave.
Leon Gettle of Camp Hill, also a member of the Pug Club, said he would never want to clone one of his dogs.
"I wouldn't want to have the same dog the rest of my life," Gettle said.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/112340641037930.xml&coll=1&thispage=2
BY JOE ELIAS
Of The Patriot-News
Eloyce Spong said the thought of ensuring Amanda, her beloved Maltese, would always be around is intriguing. Or at least the thought of having a dog that looked like Amanda.
"If I could have a lot of my little dogs running around, I think I would," said Spong, of Lower Allen Twp., as she watched Amanda romp with the other dogs yesterday at the township's dog park, Doggie Dugout.
But Spong said she also worried the same technology that could clone Amanda could also be used for less well-intentioned purposes.
"Where do you draw the line?" Spong asked. "I'd be afraid people would try to clone violent animals or worse yet, try to clone other people."
Cloning was the topic on the minds of dog owners at the park, since the announcement last week that a stem-cell scientist in South Korea created Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog. Sheep, frogs and mice had been cloned before, but never man's best friend.
Scientists duplicated the Afghan hound, born 14 weeks ago, using a skin cell plucked from another hound. The two dogs are three years apart but genetically identical, right down to their tan eyebrows.
The cloned puppy was the lone success from more than 100 dogs implanted with more than 1,000 cloned embryos.
Dog owners said the idea of cloning their prized pooches interested them, but they wanted guarantees before they would seriously entertain the idea.
Michele St. Mary of Mechanicsburg said she would like nothing more than to give Chase, her beagle-basset hound mix, his leg back.
She adopted Chase from a puppy mill, where he dislocated his hip by catching it on the wire cage he lived in. St. Mary said Chase's left rear leg was later removed.
But Chase still runs with his four-legged counterparts and jumps on the picnic tables at the park when he's had enough.
While a clone of Chase might have four legs, St. Mary worries it wouldn't be the same.
"If you could guarantee me the personality would be the same, I'd think about it," St. Mary said. "But I think I'd rather leave well enough alone. It just wouldn't be natural to me."
David Wolfgang, a professor of veterinary science at Penn State University, said St. Mary's concerns were correct: The cloned dogs would look identical, but that's where the similarities would end.
"To get the same exact dog, you would have to duplicate all the same experiences that went into raising the original dog," Wolfgang said.
For Jim and Debbie Ryave, their pug puppies, Dolly Madison and Daisy May look enough alike to them.
Born two weeks apart, the 4-month-old puppies share the same father and the same hatred of being on a leash.
The Ryaves, of Chester County, came to the dog park for a meeting of the Central Pennsylvania Pug Club.
"It's the personality that matters most. You can't clone that in a dog," said Debbie Ryave.
Leon Gettle of Camp Hill, also a member of the Pug Club, said he would never want to clone one of his dogs.
"I wouldn't want to have the same dog the rest of my life," Gettle said.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/112340641037930.xml&coll=1&thispage=2