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People Are Killing Puppy Clones That Don't Come Out 'Perfect' (medium.com) 248

An anonymous reader shares a months-old report, which is getting some attention this week: Many clones are born with defects and genetic disorders, and since those imperfections aren't what their buyer is spending tens of thousands of dollars on, they end up discarded. That's the price. Neonatal complications for cloned animals abound: Poor placenta and fetal development in the womb lead to high rates of early- and late-stage abortions. Once born, those first few weeks remain tenuous: Incidences of large offspring syndrome (which usually results in a cesarian section) are high as are pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome in cloned lambs and cows, which indicates poor adrenal gland and lung function.

And if that cloned dog does make it through the gauntlet -- but is missing the spot over its eye that a deceased pet had, for instance -- it still faces a swift death via euthanasia, just another pile of genetic material to harvest. "There's too many mistakes, too many stillbirths, deformities, and mutations," warns Chris Cauble, a Glendale, California, veterinarian whose mobile service offers tissue collection for cloning pets. Despite being involved in the industry, Cauble wouldn't clone his own pets. "I'd hate to see one of my beloved dogs born with three eyes or without a leg. I'd feel like I created a monster. There are a lot of failures, and those are killed because they're not perfect. They keep trying until they get a good puppy. Consumers have to realize the procedure is not fully perfected."

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People Are Killing Puppy Clones That Don't Come Out 'Perfect'

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  • Nothing new (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ElectronicSpider ( 6381110 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:46AM (#59750460)
    Naturally born puppies are being killed in bigger numbers.
  • Not just puppies (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lgw ( 121541 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:46AM (#59750462) Journal

    Not just puppies. A large percentage of abortions worldwide (perhaps still the majority) are still done to ensure male children. It's not nearly so bad as it was during China's one child policy, but it's still bad.

    But people actually feel sorry for puppies, so that's what we're talking about, I guess.

    • Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is good. If a sperm is wasted, god gets quite irate.
      • Every sperm is *great*. You broke the rhyme.

      • Is a sperm wasted if it is swallowed?

    • Killing living human babies is, in fact, illegal in most of the world. In some places in the US, because god lunatics reign supreme, it's even being made more illegaler [kvue.com]. That's what we're talking about, not abortions.

      Euthanizing unwanted, living, animals is not only legal, but institutionalized. While I can't justify this as a moral dilemma that threatens to tear apart society, it seems barbaric to create animals and destroy them for no really compelling reason.

      I am assuming puppy abortions are not done b

    • by jythie ( 914043 )
      For starters, I would argue people feel a lot stronge about abortions than puppies, given how many are willing to seize power, legislate other people's bodies, or outright kill over the issue.

      But secondly, this piece is not only going over cloning (which is not done with humans), but also killing well after birth, something again is not being done with humans, at least in 1st world nations (infanticide is a real issue in some regions).

      But regardless, issues are not mutually exclusive. Do you really belie
    • In reality, life is cheap.

  • Trump (Score:5, Funny)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:46AM (#59750464) Homepage Journal

    Apparently there are efforts to clone Trump and since they are new individuals they can run for President over and over again. It is true. Read it on Youtube.

  • for dogs outrage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dusanyu ( 675778 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:57AM (#59750506)
    For human's "reproductive rights"
    • The anti-abortion protester is every bit as hysteric and irrational as the animal rights protester.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        Depends on the animal rights protester. Some go way too far, others just want animals treated well and killed humanely.

    • by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      What about "death rights"? We can euthanize our pets when they are old/sick because it's humane but we're not allowed to end our own lives under the care of a medical professional (except in a few places).

      I'm against the whole cloning thing to begin with. There's no way a clone will ever be just like your lost pet. Behavioral traits rely on a combination between genetic and environmental.. any study on identical twins would show that. It's easy to separate a fool from his money.
      • but we're not allowed to end our own lives under the care of a medical professional (except in a few places).

        So, if you want to end your own life, you're not allowed to have a doctor kill you? Sounds reasonable.

        If you want to end your own life, then end it. Not at all the same as "get someone else to end it for you". Though you can probably hire someone to murder you, if you really want to.

        Admittedly, in my own case, ending my own life is relatively straightforward - get in my car, drive till it's out

  • A not-PC comment (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by dragisha ( 788 )

    Pets are ones without choice here. Not original ones, not successful and of course not unsuccessful clones.
    People claim love for them when they only care about themselves. It is people who are hurt when a pet dies, and with lifetimes order of magnitude shorter, that is a natural thing to happen. When this happen - then they abuse many other animals just to keep themselves happy.
    Pets are no more than slaves. And people, ready to discuss preservation of the habitat of this frog or that snail - they just keep

    • Re: A not-PC comment (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TuballoyThunder ( 534063 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:17AM (#59750578)
      Mostly agree with your point about pets. Dogs (and to a large extent cats) have been selectively bred to be domesticated for 10000+ years, so keeping them as pets is their natural environment. Having a bird, snake, ferret, etc as a pet is entirely narcissistic behavior because you are removing an animal from their natural environment to satisfy your needs.

      I find puppy mills and cloning pets abhorrent. It devalues the animal to a commodity.

      • Depends on the animal. Some of them do very well in captivity. Others not so much.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by dragisha ( 788 )

        (As I expected, my original post is downgraded. PC police at hard work.)

        And for "well in captivity". There are various kinds of captivity. Even humans have problems adapting to modern urban environments, and then they put a dog there? Most captive dogs spend most of their lifetime being walked around a single block, on a leash! 2, 3 or 4 times on fresh air per day!?
        For 10000 minus 50 years dogs were bred to share big open spaces with people. They were not bred for 10000 years to live in apartments and get f

      • Dogs have been bread with a lot of their natural wolf instincts are gone or suppressed.
        Much like how we have been evolved to like the taste of sweet plants, and will eat sweets even at the risk of our general health.
        Dogs have been bread to like humans, their companionship, and bond with humans.

    • You could really make the same types of arguments when it comes to the general population of any country. Individualist narratives of free will are all well and good but the reality is that we are all to one extent or another part of a greater collective. You may not be the leader of your tribe, you may not have much if any say in what you do day-to-day, that doesn't mean you are valueless or unimportant to the group. The same is true for your family dog.
      • by dragisha ( 788 )

        Not really. There is an element of free choice with people - absent in pet's positions.

  • by rldp ( 6381096 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:06AM (#59750546)

    Hell it's already common in China, even without cloning.

  • Anyone reminded of Arnold's "6th Day" movie? RePet?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • This gets into the psychology of why to clone a pet. I grew up with Collies and loved their personalities, but when you try to recreate that pet what does it say about the person wanting a clone? To me it is in the direction of self centeredness, they aren't thinking of the clone but trying to hold on to the past. Why kill a healthy clone just because they don't look exactly the same, self centered
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      The cloning companies are businesses. They aren't going to be able to sell the clones if the person who ordered it doesn't want it. That is why they kill them.

  • by segedunum ( 883035 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:17AM (#59750582)
    This is just the tip of the iceberg, and it's coming to humans.
  • ... who do this should be killed for having been born without a conscience.

  • People suck (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seriously, to have such disregard for life as to consider it something to just throw away if its inconvenient.

  • So do these people buying these clones line up the replacement ahead of time if they take awhile to... "perfect"

  • In response to all the comments about "So what? Cruelty in this, abuse there, etc.", the folks who are probably pushing this issue are also likely against meat consumption, animal based products, animal testing, and pet ownership in general. This is just a new way for them to try and hook sympathetic people and recruit them into a broader animal rights agenda. (cue PETA, Animal Liberation Front, etc.)
    • Maybe this is a great place for PETA to step in, or at least to get it in the news. Our pound puppy is a great member of our family, he could never replace the dogs that we had before him, he is his own self, which makes me happy and he seems pretty OK with it too.

      I would not have got a dog from a puppy mill or a cloning clinic and I think these places should be exposed for what they are. Some outrage is justified.

  • ok ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:37AM (#59750700) Journal

    Do I even need to point out the irony here?

    I'm a "religious extremist" because I think we shouldn't abort human babies, yet people who would abort a human in the blink of an eye for a genetic defect will get all weepy about puppies? Really?

    • Re:ok ... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Duds ( 100634 ) <dudley @ e n t e r space.org> on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:40AM (#59750718) Homepage Journal

      I'm guessing it's not remotely relevant to you this is happening after they've been born?

      Yes, you wanting to control women's bodies to please your bad reading of the writings of your almighty sky fairy make you an extremist.

      • Re:ok ... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by fropenn ( 1116699 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @12:31PM (#59750938)
        If you look at the polling data, the vast majority of people in the U.S. favor some types of restriction on abortion. In fact, the two camps with the loudest voices - the "abortion any time, for any reason" and the "no abortion ever under any circumstances" - are both minorities of opinion.

        They are minorities of opinion because both of these positions are untenable.

        The "abortion any time, for any reason" camp is untenable because it cannot be justified terminating a viable pregnancy at, say, 30 weeks when that fetus could survive outside the womb with little assistance (beyond what any baby needs).

        The "no abortion ever under any circumstances" camp is untenable because pregnancy can threaten the life of the mother, may not be viable, and can be due to rape or incest at which point forcing the mother to carry to term is another crime.

        But yet, in the debate around abortion all we get is these two camps shouting at each other.
    • Yes, you are every bit as irrational as the people who lose their shit over culled puppies.

    • This is more like giving birth to a child and throwing it in the trash because the birthmark is in the wrong place.

    • Are you advocating that babies should be created in a manner that increases the risk of them being unwanted or unhealthy ?

      Shock coming, close your eyes... Non-religious people want the incidence of abortion reduced too, especially later in the pregnancy, that can't be easy on anyone involved. The way to do it is to drop patriachal afinity for male heirs, improve access to birth control, improve education and opportunity especially for women, improve access to health services (including abortion so that if i

    • I see irony in there already being far more restrictions on a woman's body than on firearms.

  • by aRTeeNLCH ( 6256058 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:59AM (#59750792)
    Dumb guy takes his new pet to be checked by the veterinarian. The vet takes a look at the dog, then at the guy, and with some compassion he says:
    "Looks like your puppy is in a bad state, it's missing 2 paws, an ear and an eye.
    I'm sorry, but I think it's best if you just leave it here, so I can finish it..."

    A week later, the guy shows up again and asks: "Doctor, have you managed to finish my puppy yet?"

  • by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @12:30PM (#59750924)

    If the euthanasia is not painful it is not cruel. Never confuse death with cruelty.

    Rabbits kill defective offspring too. Nothing new but mention dogs and people freak out. Nature kills all life and other life eats it. If every dog were perfect it would die anyway, often slowly and painfully.

    Want to stop suffering? Stop making new lives. There is no other way so don't dare pretend otherwise.

  • Let's see how many years it takes for Gene Corp to "scrap" live human sex toys made for the top 1%.

  • Killing the unborn is a much worse problem.

    This is just a pimple on a serial killer.

    Stop the serial killer first.

    Protect those who can't protect themselves!
  • by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Friday February 21, 2020 @02:05PM (#59751336) Journal

    The puppy would be delivered, the puppy would be kept comfortable, the puppy would be resuscitated if that’s what the owner and the breeder desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the vet and the owner.

    Paraphrasing Governor Northam's take on abortion-after-birth (infanticide)

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