The Custom Puppy
In 1997, the year scientists announced they had created Dolly
the cloned sheep, Lou Hawthorne began wondering what it would
take to create a genetic replica of his mother's dog Missy.
In 2007, his company BioArts did it, and in 2009, Hawthorne
delivered puppies to five customers who paid an average of
$144,000 for copies of their canines. (The company also created,
pro bono, five clones of a search-and-rescue dog that worked
at the World Trade Center after 9/11.) BioArts has since said
the pet-cloning market is too small to be commercially viable,
but for pet owners who jumped at the chance for a second chance,
the puppy love lives on.
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