British couple first to clone puppy from dead dog
A PUPPY has been born as a result of being cloned from the DNA of its dead parent for the first time.
The boxer puppy was born in South Korea yesterday, after a sample was taken from a dog called Dylan which died of a heart attack in June. Dylan’s owners, Laura Jacques, 29, and Richard Remde, 43, from Yorkshire, were the first British couple to take advantage of the cloning process pioneered by the South Korea biotech firm Sooam.
Their dog had been dead for 12 days when the couple managed to get a viable skin sample to the company.
Scientists warned that the technique, which costs £67,000 per procedure, had never worked on dogs that had been dead for more than five days, but against the odds it was a success, producing two puppy embryos.
The first was born to a surrogate mother yesterday, watched anxiously by Ms Jacques, a dog walker, and Mr Remde, who runs a building company. The second is due to be born Tuesday.
IT WAS the miracle of science which put a smile back on the faces of Laura Jacques and her partner Richard Remde.
Six months ago the couple were left devastated when their beloved boxer dog Dylan died of a heart attack at the age of eight after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
But yesterday, against the odds, they took charge of the first of two puppies brought to life through a groundbreaking procedure that enabled their dead pet to be cloned.
Ms Jacques, 29, and Mr Remde, 43, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, were the first British customers to take advantage of the process pioneered by Sooam Biotech, a firm in South Korea.
Scientists had warned them that the technique, which costs £67,000 per procedure, had never worked for dogs who had been dead for more than five days. But even though Dylan had already been dead for 12 days, the couple took the risk and sent a skin sample to the company.
The procedure was a success, producing not one but two embryos.
The first puppy was born to a surrogate mother yesterday, watched anxiously by Ms Jacques, a dog walker, and Mr Remde, who runs a building company. The second is due to be delivered on Tuesday.
As the newborn dog was rubbed clean by staff, Ms Jacques turned to her partner and said: “The noises just make your heart melt don’t they?”
She added: “After they got him out I still couldn’t quite believe it had happened. But once he started making noises I knew it was real. Even as a puppy of just a few minutes old I can’t believe how much he looks like Dylan. All the colourings and patterns on his body are in exactly the same places as Dylan had them.”
Mr Remde, said: “I was much more overwhelmed with emotion at the birth than I expected to be.”
The puppy has been named Chance, after a character in Ms Jacques’ favourite film, Disney’s Homeward Bound. The second puppy will be named Shadow, after another character in the film.
This is the first time a dead pet has been cloned for a UK customer. Last year Rebecca Smith, 29, from west London won a competition organised by Sooam to have her elderly dachshund Winnie cloned, although the dog was still alive. The puppy, named Mini Winnie, was born in March 2014.
Speaking a few days ago about Dylan’s death, Ms Jacques said: “When it happened I was in total shock, I couldn’t feel my limbs. I had pins and needles everywhere.
“I didn’t know how I would be able to cope, I thought I would have to throw myself off a bridge or something.”
She acknowledged that her action was controversial. “There will be people who don’t agree with it but there will be loads of people that would love to be able to do it”
The couple initially decided to store samples of Dylan’s DNA with Sooam. The firm provide a kit to take a biopsy from the dog’s abdomen and Mr Remde travelled to South Korea to deliver it.
“We got all the cells packaged up and I booked a flight for him and he flew out the next morning,” said Ms Jacques, who keeps another four dogs and 11 other animals at her home.
But the first samples failed and by the time the second biopsy arrived it was long past the usual cut-off point for successful cloning. Even so, the scientists decided to push the boundaries of the technique.
The couple have kept Dylan in their freezer while they renovate their garden and are planning to bury him in a special area once it is completed.
“I find it embarrassing telling people that I’ve got my dog in the freezer, but I have got a valid reason,” added Ms Jacques
Mr Remde said: “We are a bit animal mad. We don’t go out socialising much, we don’t go out drinking.”
The first mammal to be cloned was Dolly the sheep, who was born in Edinburgh in 1996. Dogs were first cloned in South Korea in 2005 by Sooam Biotech scientist Dr Woo Suk Hwang.
Since then Sooam has produced around 700 cloned dogs, but this is the first time for puppies to have been born from such degraded DNA samples.
Some experts believe the procedure could lead to animals having much shorter lifespans and a host of health problems.
The RSPCA has expressed serious ethical and welfare concerns surrounding cloning.
‘There will be people who don’t agree with it but there will be loads of people that would love to do it’