It can be VERY difficult to lose a pet. Trust me, just last month, I said goodbye to my AWESOME kitty, my best friend of 14 years. It was TERRIBLE. And my husband and I have actually talked about the idea of cloning him. I mean, if money were no object, of course.
But if cloning WERE an option for your pet, would you do it?
Barbra Streisand did it . . . because, well, she had the money.
In an interview with Variety, she talked about how her beloved 14-year-old dog Samantha died back in November. But before she passed, Barbra had some cells extracted from her mouth and stomach.
That genetic material was used to create two Samantha clones, which she named Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett . . . but so far, it's unclear if it was worth it.
Barbra said, quote, "They have different personalities. I'm waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her [Samantha's] brown eyes and seriousness."
She also has another dog that's a "distant cousin" of Samantha's . . . so this dog must have been REALLY special.
That's the thing: just because you clone an animal's genetic material doesn't mean they'll have the same personality. Personality is based on a LOT of factors not necessarily related to genetics (the same is true for humans), so you could spend all that money only to end up with a pet that's completely different from the one you lost and miss so much.
It's $50K to clone a dog and $25 to clone a cat. If money weren't an issue, would you do it?