SINGAPORE – When Dr Jean-Paul Ly’s Australian livestock dog, Khan, passed away in 2021 at the age of 17, the veteran veterinarian “felt a bit lost”.
“I felt he passed away too early, I needed a bit more time with him,” the 73-year-old said.
He got his 2nd opportunity when Khan was effectively cloned in China about a year earlier, showing up in Singapore at the start of June.
It invested the very first month here in quarantine prior to being launched to Dr Ly, who shed tears when he fulfilled his dog, which is likewise called Khan.
He confessed that he had actually been concerned at first, however it “all melted away within five minutes of meeting him”.
“He greeted me like he’d never left,” said Dr Ly. “It was an explosion of emotions, him and me. Of course, I cried as well because I’m meeting my old Khan.”
While the cloned dog has black spots on its back that the initial Khan did not have, Dr Ly said its face is “exactly the same”.
They have comparable characters too, with both dogs “a bit stubborn (and) very confident”, he included.
Dr Ly said his very first conference with the brand-new dog was astonishing.
“The strange thing was, he obeyed every command I gave him. It was the first time I had seen him; I’d never trained him before,” he remembered.
Although it cost US$50,000 (S$68,000) to clone the dog and about US$20,000 more for its remain in China, airline tickets and other various costs, Dr Ly said there was no concern that he would have had Khan cloned.
“No one could have talked me out of it,” he included.
“The dog gives me more companionship, solace and affection than my family members put together,” he said, including that he has 3 kids “who have their own lives”.
Explaining the charm of having a dog, Dr Ly said: “When a dog is devoted, he’s faithful up until death. He will be the very first to crave you, if there was a battle.
“If there was a bear approaching me or a wild animal about to attack me, he would be the first to protect me. The rest of my family would probably run away.”
Besides his deep love for the “very special” canine, regret likewise played a part in his choice to clone Khan after he inadvertently ran over the dog with his car about 4 years earlier. The old Khan made it through, however was seriously hurt.
