Recently, controversy arose over a video posted on a Korean YouTube channel. The content of the video was about a woman who cloned her dog by replicating its somatic cells. When the video was uploaded, the Korean Animal Welfare Association accused the dog cloning company, that had cloned her dogs, of violating the Animal Protection Act. Animal cloning remains technically legal because there is no law prohibiting it. Still, the act of producing and selling companion animals without a permit is liable, including activities such as forcing them to get pregnant during the cloning process and administering hormones. Cloning involves taking somatic cells from a dog’s skin to create a cloned fertilized egg, and implanting the egg into the uterus of a surrogate dog. However, the success rate of such cloning is low. Therefore, many dogs should be killed to produce a single cloned dog. Though pet cloning is expensive, sitting at around 80 million KRW to 120 million KRW per dog, cloning companion animals for a high price is often undertaken in areas such as the Middle East. Human cloning is illegal, but animal cloning was made possible in Korea by the revision of the Animal Protection Act in Aug. 2022.
Opinions about this case also vary. One dog-owner replied that he sympathizes with the desire to meet a dog that passed away, even if it means copying it. A representative of an animal cloning company replied that many people find psychological comfort in just storing the somatic cells of a dead dog. By doing this, people can overcome “Pet Loss Syndrome”. Pet Loss Syndrome occurs when a person loses their beloved pet, thus causing the pet owner to suffer from mental pain and severe depression. However, critics have raised various ethical issues regarding animal cloning. To produce cloned dogs, unspecified dogs must sacrifice themselves. Furthermore, cloned dogs are often found to carry common diseases that can be life-threatening throughout the world. Animal organizations point out that the social benefits of cloning are limited to a certain number of people who are financially capable of cloning. Instances of animal abuse and maltreatment accompanying animal cloning are serious, therefore it is necessary to regulate the procedure.
As pets are increasingly recognized as family members, more and more people are struggling with the sadness of losing their pets. It seems necessary to think about whether it can ever be okay to commercialize pet cloning to endure the effects of Pet Loss Syndrome, as well as how to solve the ethical and social problems of cloning pets.
