After loosing her dog Booger to Cancer, Bernann McKinney had him cloned. Cells from her beloved pet were transported to RNL Bio lab based in Seoul, Korea. The cells were nutured and developed into embryos. The embryos were transplanted into two surrogate mixed breed females who carried them to term. Five cloned puppies were born at a cost of $50,000. Ms. McKinney is the world's first commercial cloning client. She plans to take three of the cloned dogs to her home in California and donate the others to work as service dogs for the handicapped or elderly.
McKinney said she was especially attached to Booger because he saved her life when she was attacked by another dog three times his size. The incident resulted in her left hand being severely injured, and also damaged her leg nerves and stomach. Doctors later reconstructed her hand and she spent part of her recovery in a wheelchair.
RNL Bio charges up to $150,000 for dog cloning but will receive just a third of that sum from McKinney because she is the first customer and helped with publicity, said company head Ra Jeong-chan.
