Former first lady Dorrit Moussaieff’s dog, Samur has been cloned. Samson, the clone, was born in the United States. Former Icelandic president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson posted photos of the adorable puppy on his Twitter account.
“For those who followed the sad news of our beloved #Samur passing away earlier this year,” he wrote, “we now share the splendid, somewhat unbelievable, report that now #Samson has been borne in the USA due to the process of cloning. More news and pictures on Dorrit’s Instagram!”
Samur was a German and Icelandic sheepdog hybrid, and the former first couple owned him together. Samples were taken from the archetype canine and used to make the clone. Dorrit made headlines exactly one year ago when she announced her intent to clone her beloved pet, raising numerous questions about ethics.
Chiefly, the process requires many dogs to produce a single clone. Many cloned pregnancies don’t take hold in the uterus or die shortly after birth, meaning a lot of dogs have to be put down for one viable clone. Additionally, this is a service that only the wealthy can afford. Cloning services from Viagen, the company which reportedly cloned Samur, run $50,000 USD for dogs. For a family pet, no price is too high, it seems.
If you look past the ethical questions, though, one fact remains: OOOOOOHHHH THERE’S A PUPPY!
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