• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Did That… Just Really Happen?

Did That... Just Really Happen?

Did that just really happen

  • World
  • U.S.
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Science
  • Health

Pet cloning becoming a trend among social media influencers

April 22, 2022 by Nena Serrano 1 Comment

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:

  • A company can preserve your pet’s cells and clone them.
  • Some social media influencers are patronizing the procedure.
  • PETA has issued a statement condemning the practice.

For social media influencers, cloning pets is the newest craze.

Courtney Udvar-Hazy, who has a famous social media account devoted to her dog Willow, previously told TODAY about cloning her dog after it died four years ago. She informed the newspaper that she made six clones of Willow using ViaGen Pets & Equine, a company that preserves your pet’s cells and then clones them.

“Willow was just insanely special. She was my soul dog. I wanted her bloodline and her legacy to continue,” Udvar-Hazy told TODAY. “I went into it with zero expectation. I knew that it would be similar to identical twins in humans. Completely different animal, completely different soul, completely different personality, but genetically identical.”

Udvar-Hazy, who makes money from her social media, has kept the account with Willow’s clones up to date since the cloning procedure. According to TODAY, influencer Kelly Anderson cloned her cat Chai after it died at a young age and now manages her monetized Instagram account with the animal’s clone.

ViaGen, based in Texas, charges $50,000 to clone a dog, $35,000 to clone a cat, and $85,000 to clone a horse. More influencers are expected to become clients, and ViaGen hopes that their prices will soon be affordable to regular pet owners.

“There are a handful of our clients that have a social media presence,” Melain Rodriguez, ViaGen’s client service manager, told TODAY. “That’s definitely going to grow.”

Besides social media influencers, other celebrities have also cloned their pets.

In February 2018, Barbra Streisand revealed that she had cells extracted from her dog Samantha, who passed in 2017, to create clones of the canine. The singer posted a photo of her two cloned pups, Scarlet and Violet, sitting close to Samantha’s grave a year later. Samantha’s breeder gave Streisand her second dog, Fanny.

“The twins Scarlet and Violet honoring their mom (with cousin Fanny in the center!),” the caption read.

Following Streisand’s revelation that Scarlet and Violet are clones, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk issued a statement to Page Six opposing individuals from cloning animals, stating that “cloning adds to the homeless-animal population crisis” because other animals remain in shelters.

In a statement, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) also condemned the practice, citing “important welfare concerns.” The group also stated that a “scientific and ethical analysis of the procedures and practices” of cloning is needed.

Source: People

Filed Under: Science

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. RockyMtn 1776 says

    April 25, 2022 at 11:40 pm

    It would be interesting to know how many people throughout the world have tried or will try this procedure on themselves.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More Interesting Stories

Would you dare? World’s longest glass-bottom bridge opens to tourists [Video]

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED: The Bach Long pedestrian bridge in Vietnam is now open to tourists. The bridge is 2,073ft long and 492ft above the ground. Vietnam is now open to international travelers.  A massive glass bridge claiming to be the world’s longest has opened, but it’s not for the faint-hearted. The Bach Long pedestrian bridge in Vietnam, […]

Retired soccer player sold Diego Maradona’s traded shirt for $9.3 million

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED: Steve Hodge, an English retired soccer player, sold Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey for $9.28 million. Hodge swapped jerseys with Maradona at the 1986 World Cup. The sale is the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia. Steve Hodge, a retired English soccer player, became $9.28 million richer […]

Family brings home lost coyote pup after mistaking it for a puppy

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED: A family in New England mistakenly brings home a coyote pup after they thought it was a lost puppy. They found the young coyote “wandering and distressed by the side of a busy road.”  When they realized their mistake, the family reached out to the Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts for […]

Nursing home resident sent to a morgue in a body bag — found alive [Video]

WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED: A nursing home resident was sent to the morgue in a sealed body bag, but upon checking, the person inside was still alive. Personnel in personal protective equipment recorded the incident on video, which has been posted on social media. The nursing home director and 3 other officials have been fired and […]

© 2023 Who Knew News. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Do Not Sell My Info