People Are Killing Puppy Clones That Don’t Come Out ‘Perfect’

And the procedure costs $60,000 per animal

Adam Popescu
OneZero

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Illustration: Janet Mac

II was expecting three heads, six toes, something like Frankenstein. But what I saw when I met four cloned mutts crooning for attention in a leafy Pasadena backyard was far more mundane. The dogs playing in the grass were teacup-sized terrier-schnauzer mixes — two pairs of cloned twins, Wolfie Bear and Wolfie Girl had salt-and-pepper markings and floppy ears, while Bubble Facer and Bubble Rubble had cocaine-white coats and elfin ears.

The owner of the dogs is a 49-year-old Thai emigre and entrepreneur named Peter Onruang. He never had kids — not human ones at least — and he never married. He wanted to share his life with his animals. So when his two dogs passed to the other side, he decided to replace them with their approximate duplicates. “When they were born, I remember when they popped out, I was there,” he said of the cloned sisters. “I’m not a religious person, but I always found this peaceful feeling with my dogs. I can’t explain it, but I love them.”

For attached dog owners like Onruang, cloning your dog is now easy, as long as you have the right-sized bank account. Startups from Texas to South Korea offer the service, which typically costs about $60,000 a pet (Onruang got a deal — two clones for the price of…

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