Grieving the dying of a pet is usually a unhappy and lonely expertise, however would you pay a yr’s wage to get your furry buddy again?
Well, a Canadian lady has accomplished simply that. Kris Stewart of British Columbia paid $50,000 for not one however two clones of her deceased ragdoll cat, Bear.
Bear tragically died on the tender age of 5, hit by a automobile in January 2022, and her new cats, Bear Bear and Honey Bear, are genetic twins of the beloved pet.
The new kittens had been created by way of somatic cell cloning, which concerned transferring the nucleus of considered one of Bear’s cells into a brand new egg cell.
The egg was then implanted in a surrogate mom who gave delivery to the kittens which have zero % of her DNA however 100% of Bear’s.
Kris Stewart with Bear Bear and Honey Bear, her new cloned kittens from Texas-based biotech firm ViaGen.
Bear, Stewart’s earlier cat, died in a visitors accident at simply 5 years old. She needed him again, so she had him cloned
‘I simply felt like there was extra dwelling that wanted to be accomplished by Bear,’ Stewart instructed CBC.
So she contracted the providers of Texas-based firm ViaGen, which calls itself ‘the worldwide chief in cloning the animals we love.’
After Bear Bear and Honey Bear had been born to their surrogate mom on January 10 of this yr, they spent two months in ViaGen’s New York facility.
And Stewart was allowed to take them home this week.
‘They each look like Bear,’ she mentioned. ‘These guys are daring and sassy.’
Her deceased cat was rambunctious and very smart, she instructed CBC.
‘Bear was the neatest animal I believe I’ve ever had, and I’ve had animals since I used to be two years old,’ Stewart defined.
In addition to cats, ViaGen additionally affords horse cloning.
Dogs and cats cost $50,000, whereas horses cost $85,000.
According to Stewart’s LinkedIn, she is the chief govt of a nurse staffing company.
This trade has confirmed particularly profitable for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic.
Weekly charges for journey nurses soared from between $1,000 and $2,000 pre-pandemic to between $3,000 and $5,000.
DailyMail.com has reached out to her for remark.
Stewart cuddles her new clone cats Bear Bear and Honey Bear, who simply got here home together with her this week after eight weeks in ViaGen’s facility
Bear, seen right here trying to open a door, was extraordinarily good, in keeping with Kris Stewart. She mentioned she thinks the clones behave like he did to this point
As far because the know-how goes, ViaGen makes use of somatic cell nuclear switch to create a clone of a pet.
This is similar method that was used to provide the famed Scottish sheep Dolly.
Somatic cell cloning, additionally known as somatic cell nuclear switch or simply nuclear switch, is easy in idea however troublesome in execution.
It entails taking the DNA out of the cell from a donor – on this case a physique cell, as indicated by the phrase ‘somatic.’
To create somatic cell nuclear switch (SCNT) clones, scientists take DNA (purple circle) from tissue and insert it into egg cells (yellow) with their DNA (inexperienced) eliminated. The scientists then change on or off sure genes to assist the cells replicate (proper)
Then an egg cell has its DNA eliminated, to get replaced with the donor’s DNA.
This altered egg cell is then implanted in a surrogate.
When the surrogate offers delivery, the infant is genetically equivalent to the animal that donated the physique cell, and it shares no relation to her.
Cloned animals usually don’t survive delivery, however ones which can be born wholesome are likely to do effectively.
This was the third try ViaGen had made at cloning Bear, as the primary two makes an attempt had failed.
Though the kittens are genetic twins with Bear, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll have the identical character as he did.
In an excessive instance, Texans Ralph and Sandra Fisher cloned their beloved mild bull named Chance, solely to have the clone gore Ralph twice.
But for now the entrepreneur has mentioned she is ‘thrilled’ together with her new cats.
