(The Daily Star)
Rachel O'Donoghue NOV 19, 2019 17:25
Pet cloning has become more and more popular in recent years, with surging numbers of people paying thousands of dollars to have their adored cats and dogs cloned.
Celebrities have particularly widened the appeal of what was once considered an ethically-dubious science, with stars such as Barbara Streisand and fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg "recreating" their dogs.
But while it seems like the ideal solution to losing a pet, many experts are speaking out to warn unsuspecting animal-lovers of the perils of doing so.
One of the main problems with cloning pets is that they often turn out completely differently.
A number of owners who paid for the costly procedure have come forward in the last couple of years to reveal cloning has not lived up to what they thought it would be.
Huang Yu, from the city of Wenzhou, in China, paid $35,000 to have his cat Garlic cloned this year after being left utterly bereft when the feline passed away.
But when the new kitten – also named Garlic – was born in July to a surrogate mother in Beijing, Huang realized the two cats were completely different, not even sharing a physical resemblance.
Speaking about his experience to the New York Times, Huang admitted: “If I tell you I wasn’t disappointed, then I would be lying to you.”