This is one reason why cloning is wrong!

A woman paid $50.000 for a cloned version of her beloved pet. Talk about price gouging and playing on the feelings of people!

SAN FRANCISCO - The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States is named Little Nicky, a 9-week-old kitten delivered to a Texas woman saddened by the loss of a cat she had owned for 17 years.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

They are playing on the emotions and taking advantage of the vunerable, this woman thinks she is getting her beloved "pet" back and in reality she could have gone to the local pet shelter and paid less than $100.00 she is being duped int the worst possible way!

This is not bieng duped, this is fulfilling a wish for someone. This is an industry that could become very large, and the price coming down, like all technology.

If someone wants to spend that much on a cat, let them. And if they do, I am sure they donate each year to the local SPCA or Friends of Strays or some such organization.

Personally, I think it is a waste of money, it is a down payment on a home for 5 underprivelaged families, or could provide a school with books and funding in poor urban areas. There is a multitude of uses for money, but the numberone reason to self-pleasure, which this was.

Now, the flip side to this is that there is no long term testing. What if they didn't stop growing, or started to develop some type of disease and die earlier than the cat it was cloned from.

(and we wonder why people march in the streets and burn our flag)

A fool and his (her) money are soon parted, right? I don't think anybody is preying on her. She's just a fool, and therefore, like the gazelle with a gimp leg crossing the crocodile infested river, not deserving of the sympathies of the rest of the herd (you and I). If I'm being insensitive, well, okay, I am being insensitive, but what I really feel and wasn't going to say is that said woman should be flogged for wasting her money instead of giving it to someone with a functioning cerebral mass. heh All of this is misplaced agression, really, my mother once threatened to donate my inheritance to a home for aged prostitutes and it sorta embedded in my unconscious. Mea Culpa, moving on to something relevant.

Does this silly woman know that in order to successfully clone her precious kitten, the company in question will probably go through a dozen attempts. Does she think about the misshapen, underdeveloped fetus of each and every "broken egg" that goes into making her omelette? Does she want to keep all of the results, or just the cute ones? Is she going to put the six legged, four ounce blob of gestational goo on a leash and walk it around the neighborhood while smiling like a jack in a box and waving like miss america from the float labeled INSANITY???

When will people learn. Your pets are not as important as your fellow humans. No matter how fuzzy.

Simple supply and demand. She wanted a clone of her old cat, not another cat. I drive an expensive sports car, instead of a cheap car. Other people buy big expensive homes, when all they really need is a noremal sized home. We buy what we want to satisfy our neads, wants, and desires. If she's happy with her new cat, good for her.

accutle you have to wonder just how imformed she was. As a clone isnot a excat copy and the new cat may not even look like the old one just look it up you will see its not like having a twin and farther more even the personality will be different as that cant be cloned .

Do cloned animals keep personalities, if they don't then it's pointless if they do then its well worth the money.

I think that strongly depends on what you consider personality. Maine Coon cats are agressive, more so than any other "breed" of cat. If you clone a Maine Coon, it might appear to the owner that the cat is identical, but it would dream differently, and therefore develop differently. Another consideration is, there is no quantifiable trait in a cat or a dog or a parakeet by which to measure personality. Number of scratches delivered? Intensity of the purrrrr? Snugglediness? I mean, how do we measure these intangibles to even begin to get an idea on how to perfect out methods. The only identical clone would be one that experience an identical developmental phase. Early childhood accounts for a great deal of personality.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
A fool and his (her) money are soon parted, right? I don't think anybody is preying on her. She's just a fool, and therefore, like the gazelle with a gimp leg crossing the crocodile infested river, not deserving of the sympathies of the rest of the herd (you and I). If I'm being insensitive, well, okay, I am being insensitive, but what I really feel and wasn't going to say is that said woman should be flogged for wasting her money instead of giving it to someone with a functioning cerebral mass. heh All of this is misplaced agression, really, my mother once threatened to donate my inheritance to a home for aged prostitutes and it sorta embedded in my unconscious. Mea Culpa, moving on to something relevant.

Thank you for pointing out another reason why cloning is wrong! Every time a fetus is deformed or not right, they make another one and destroy the first. Is this mercy killing or just plain murder? It is one step closer to trying to make the perfect society, that had been the subject of many books! First animals then only a matter of time before they do it with people!
Does this silly woman know that in order to successfully clone her precious kitten, the company in question will probably go through a dozen attempts. Does she think about the misshapen, underdeveloped fetus of each and every "broken egg" that goes into making her omelette? Does she want to keep all of the results, or just the cute ones? Is she going to put the six legged, four ounce blob of gestational goo on a leash and walk it around the neighborhood while smiling like a jack in a box and waving like miss america from the float labeled INSANITY???

When will people learn. Your pets are not as important as your fellow humans. No matter how fuzzy.

For some reason my response got embedded in the quote !

[edit on 23-12-2004 by jeeze louise]

"When will people learn. Your pets are not as important as your fellow humans. No matter how fuzzy"

My two dogs are much more important than my fellow human beings.

Human beings can take care of them selves and if that retarded lady wanted to spend $50,G's on a bloody cloned cat instead of going to the pound or even PetSmart and getting another cat that looks just like the one she had then let her be its her money let her blow it how ever she wants to.

My belief is that nobody, nor animal is born with a personality. A personality is developed during your entire life experiences. Take 2 cats, one cloned from the other. Spend the first year of one cat's life giving it attention, playing with it, holding it, etc, and ignore the other cat, just feeding it. You will have 2 entirely different cats.

I've had my cat for 15years, and to me he is more important than many 'fellow humans" will ever be.

accutly to a degree i can understand how she feals .I grow up through fosterhomes never having a family or even a friend and once I had my own place to live I got a young feamale dog Black with white stockings and a star on her chest long haired very smart.
she was the first friend I ever had .about 6 months after I got her I found my furticher wife and marryed her . 12 years later(3 months agaio)
Midnight (the dog) had finly passed the point to wich life is a pleasure and it was time (Realy bites) . So I had the vet comeover and put her to rest.
shes buried under the palm tree in my back yard now with shoes and a blanket . i found my self going to every dog pound within 200 miles looking for a new dog after 2 months i finly relized I was looking for HER .
Then reality set in shes dead and theres no way ill ever get her back and as much as I loved that dog as she was my first friend love.
she wasent human and I love my wife more (still bites though) but alest I have finly put her to rest.belive me the thought crossed my mind what if she could be cloned but I know it wouldnot be midnight .
All I can wonder is why we picked a animal that only lives 12 15 years to be our closest friend out side of family.I do miss her but Id never have her cloned . Do hope shes at peace she deserved no less better then any human I ever meet my self included.

Thor..
I don't expect species loyalty from the Assgard, but I do expect it from a human. I believe we humans gotta stick together, even if and when some members of our species act rash, boastful, arrogant, foolish, conceited, whatever. We make apologies for the bad apples, and cultivate the good ones. But you gotta look out for humankind man, nobody else will. Do you think the cat cares about your well being aside from your important niche as feeder/groomer? If so I'd be interested to hear stories or read articles, but generally, most benevolent animal actions can be explained in simple terms, understanding what we provide for them is the key. Vice versa too. The people who "love" their cats probably depend on them a great deal emotionally, as a sounding board, physically (warmth, comfort, soothing vibrations, etc.), and even perhaps spiritually. If being kind to a cat makes you warm and fuzzy inside, and being warm and fuzzy inside is a good thing when perceived by your subjective unconcious mind, you will feel like being close to the cat a lot. Simple right? The same works in reverse. I think emotional terms are insufficient for understanding the universe, and our interactions with other species. Science is a better language. And what does science say about our feline friends?
Cat: The Man Parasite/Consumer of small mammals
Human: The Cow Parasite/Consumer of large mammals

Cats and Dogs do feel for thier 'owners' well being, I know this beyond doubt.
An example maybe, my mother has 'her' dog and I believe it cares about her alot If I pretend to punch up mum or jump on her the dog which is normally timid will attack me and growl like growl growl not play growl I know the dogs not playing so I back off. If you can explain this I'd be happy to hear it

Previous comments show that people want to spend another person's money for their project, and asking what is right or wrong about cloning is your question. Surely a personal sentiment to clone a beloved pet is at least equal to your artistic and religious opinion about ebay's Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich, is it not? Think about it, a piece of bread and cheese went for $28,000! Honestly I prefer getting a living creature to some 10 year old toast, but then again it is a matter of opinion in this world. An impression about a sandwich, verses the actual DNA and cat replica you beloved, is really no comparison.

I don't know about anyone else, but people commenting above sound like they prefer the questionable sandwich, regardless of the obvious difference in actual values, a living cat verses a dead sandwich that really doesn't even look anything like the virgin mary.

Thor
you are presumably the source of the dog's food. It sees a threat to its food supply, and made a move to defend, verbally, at the least physical risk to itself. I personally wouldn't consider that evidence. But then, there are no evidenciary standards in the realm of paranormal investigation. Save one. Logic. Go jump on yer mum in front of a pack of wild dogs, dogs that don't have the food/love addiction. I think another experiment would be to have your mum chase you around the house, I mean tear *ss, and watch the dog run after her, yipping at you, might even take a chunk out of you. It's instinctual pack procedure, hardwired since dire wolves, a longgg time ago. If anything, by meddling with their genetics through breeding, humans have made dogs and cats stupider, cuter, and smaller. I am, as we speak, engaged in an effort to bring back the dire wolf. It will be sweet, I promise.

It's impossible to try and convince someone that think animals are just hollow shells only after food...

Sadly Im sure others will agree with you to.

They're not hollow, there's lots of intestine, and blood, and chemical energy. That chemical energy no doubt forms an imprint on the cosmos, a sentient pattern during life and after death, in all times at once --- However(long pause) --- Individually they are predisposed to like food and see it as the most important factor in the sustainment of life, water too. See how well your dog loves you if you keep it away from the food, or actually eat the food for a number of weeks. (This step is easier if you feed your dog filet like I would) Make agressive motions while saying sweet words, watch the reaction.
I love dogs, they're very loyal, but I hold no illusions as to why they're loyal. They're loyal because man has been breeding them toward that ideal and a number of others for a very long time. I think the misunderstanding most humans take for granted as truth is that we are in many ways superior to animals. I think animals are in many ways superior to us, and we are superior to some animals, in a limited sphere, such as "walk better than dolphin" and "wider mouth than bullfrog" "opposable thumbs" etc.
If animals lack a soul, (I'm not sure) we were surely the thing that took it from them

I know nearly every animal on the planet has feelings emotion and inteligence to a point. So I agree with Thor on that.

Also to me cats are much more important than any human, further more I would kill half the poulation to save a cat, aslo I would kill my self if it meant saving the life of a cat.

[edit on 12/23/2004 by iori_komei]

If the lady wants to thats her business, not yours. When someone smokes and takes drugs, as long as they dont endanger anyone else, its their business, not yours.

As long as the 'cat' acts and seems the same as the dead one, thats fine...

however...

if you tried this on a person, it would never quite be the same...cus the clone lacks a soul, at least in my opinion. not sure if animals have souls. not sure if people have souls. but thats just what i think.