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Woman Clones Her Own Pit Bull

nbc11.com — Bernann McKinney of Hollywood says her beloved pit bull "Booger" saved her life when another dog attacked her. Now that he's passed on, she has five replacements, thanks to a South Korean cloning company.

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  • GaynEmo, on 08/06/2008, -6/+17Wow interesting story
    • NEUTRINO50, on 08/07/2008, -6/+1It's all fun and games 'till they attack
    • sockpuppets, on 08/07/2008, -1/+1Wow interesting story
    • DroogInPhoenix, on 08/07/2008, -6/+6How ***** disgusting... Our pets have individual personalities based on many factors, for example my yellow lab is great, but she was also a rescue and very abused, a clone of her would not at all be the same because of the circumstances involved in her life, where we have lived, friends she has known and how I stopped her from having 10-20 nightmares every singe day. A clone only looks like a clone, the things that define them are environmental. And the reason why i say ***** disgusting is because there are dogs who will be put to death because no one wants them... Some rich ***** gets her dog cloned. When she says Yes, I know you, and you know me too.... no it doesn't... ***** her.
      • the3stars, on 08/07/2008, -2/+5Are you drunk or something? Yes, perhaps this woman is eccentric, but is she a '***** *****' because she loved her dog? Are your kids '***** *****' because they don't eat all the food on their plates while there are staving kids in the world? This isn't a 'break through' in science, but its a step forward, and one that I hope will be used for good means.
    • Nudar, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1What an insightful comment!
    • strawberry, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1It gets more interesting...
      "Dog cloner suspected to be kidnapper of Mormon missionary sex slave in 1978"
      http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/08/dog-cloner-su ...
  • ritubpant, on 08/06/2008, -1/+12clones clones clones....they are everywhere...hard to figure who is natural anymore
  • umarboy, on 08/06/2008, -1/+26Good for her for cloning her dog... but she didn't have to clone the dog's name.
    • Managua8Green, on 08/07/2008, -4/+1but then it technically wouldn't be a clone, now would it.
    • DyceFreak, on 08/07/2008, -2/+15she must not have had the life lesson of...
      letting go

      this is why women shouldn't spend money, they'd spend $150K on a dog...
  • jeessy, on 08/06/2008, -21/+4One thing is definitely sure, this one will not be cloned : http://digg.com/pets_animals/Fat_Dog_PIC
    • NaziHatinChimp, on 08/06/2008, -2/+9OMG I can't believe that led to a mediocre submission by the person who posted that comment. Wow.
    • groo68, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Im sure it could be cloned in china.
  • webman77, on 08/06/2008, -18/+7I think it`s against the nature to clone animals.
    In the other way cloning in molecular biology is inalienable. Worldwide, there should be uniform limitations.
    • Managua8Green, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1but than we can't have CUTE little puppies!!!!!
    • UrinalPooper, on 08/07/2008, -0/+4You, sir, are a luddite.
    • 883XL, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2Are you also against Identical Twins?
    • envyme, on 08/07/2008, -0/+5Wow, I would've punched you in the face before you got finished with that first sentence.
    • notjasonlee, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1what really makes your comment shine, webman, is your unique use of an accent mark instead of an apostrophe. i am also quite interested in this so-called "the nature" you speak of.
  • Elliottx, on 08/06/2008, -3/+31Wait we can clone stuff now? That was quick.
    • MattNF, on 08/06/2008, -0/+22Is it cold living under that rock?
      • Spanktacular, on 08/07/2008, -2/+3Depends on what you mean by cloning, really.

        Notice how one of the five pups has a white splash on the face, but the others do not? They're not clones in the way that you Star Wars nerds think they are.

        Science reporting in this country is really in the *****...
    • wonderbriefs, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0Yeah, um, Dollie the Sheep...1997...remember?
  • XtraWhite, on 08/06/2008, -0/+43$50,000 and all she can think to do with that is clone a dog named "booger"......
    • sockpuppets, on 08/07/2008, -1/+12Everything worthwhile has a strange name. "Vagina" is a great example.
    • jazzboyrules, on 08/07/2008, -2/+5If someone gave me $50k, I'd shell in extra $20k and get myself a 2009 GT-R.
  • bixby1, on 08/06/2008, -1/+55This lady just looks like somebody who would pull something completely insane.
  • megamod, on 08/06/2008, -13/+21. Find crazy people that will pay anything to get their dead animal pet cloned (look at the first pic of the slide show if you need some help/example)
    2. Find an animal store willing to paint their animals to look like a pic that you submit
    3. ???
    4. Profit!!!
  • SpaceDreamer, on 08/06/2008, -2/+72"Yes, I know you! You know me too!"
    right, because obviously the clones inherited the dead dog's memory....

    Retards shouldn't be allowed to clone anything.
    • notjasonlee, on 08/07/2008, -0/+5also we shouldn't be allowed to clone retards. but i guess that's just common sense
      • iamtenninjas, on 08/07/2008, -1/+5Except for my retard army. They've got retard strength... the strength of ten men.
  • BXRWXR, on 08/06/2008, -3/+30And yet there is still no cure for cancer or AIDS.
    • TVarmy, on 08/07/2008, -0/+4We've been able to clone them for a long time if that's any consolation.
    • mikeroq, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1There is a cure for AIDS. USP 567677
    • s0nicfreak, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0There's a cure for aids... it's called condoms
  • sirk7778, on 08/06/2008, -6/+26that's all we need. MORE homeless dogs to clog up our streets and shelters. i miss my dog and my eyes still well up when i think about him but NEVER did i want to get him stuffed to sit by my fireplace....let alone cloned. there are already too many unwanted and homeless dogs, cats, and people in this world. and i can GUARANTEE that crazy lady in california could have adopted another pit from a shelter that was just as loving as booger.
    • JacD, on 08/07/2008, -1/+6Exactly. It's cool that the technology has progressed so far, but in a world with millions of stray and abused animals, the last thing we need are cloned pets
    • DuffyDirect, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2she rescued the original dog from a shelter, shes already done way more than what most people do for creatures.
      • TVarmy, on 08/07/2008, -0/+7All of my family's dogs have been from shelters and we never cloned one of them. They were all fixed, too, so we prevented more strays. Where's our article/gold medal?
      • DuffyDirect, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2the good do good without reward
    • TVarmy, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3So clone the lonely owners to match supply and demand.
  • Rotzooi, on 08/06/2008, -1/+57Disappointing. From the title I expected her to have made a DIY clone out of an improvised lab in her garage.
  • xero69, on 08/06/2008, -1/+66This woman sold her house to finance her cloned pet(s). Meanwhile her local animal shelter is probably short on cash and overflowing with perfectly good dogs and cats. Her money could have benefited so many animals, how sad.
    • wonderbriefs, on 08/07/2008, -2/+0HA! A $150,000 house in Hollywood! That's a good one.
  • protodon, on 08/06/2008, -3/+12*****, I'd do it. I'm gonna miss my dogs when they're gone and I have no human friends so looks like I better start savin' up!
  • ThinkOutTheBox, on 08/06/2008, -1/+15"God sent me 5 more mini-Boogers"????
    • goddessophia, on 08/06/2008, -0/+11Yeah, God did not send 5 more mini-Boogers, Lady! You paid quite a few Benjamin Franklin's for 5 clones that were created by scientific engineers who are trying to act like God.

      Are you not capable of loving another dog?
    • bundwallah, on 08/07/2008, -1/+4She could've reached up her nose for that!
    • wonderbriefs, on 08/07/2008, -1/+0*sniff* Feels like he sent me some too. Lemme just get that sumbitch...got it!
  • dknighton, on 08/06/2008, -9/+4I sure hope the TSA doesn't let any of these abominations (including the owner) back into the country. This is ***** stupidity on a colossal scale. Too many unknowns in an unknown science, all initiated by a retarded human.
    • NuttySquirrel, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2Right, I forgot, sexual reproduction works perfectly.
    • danwallace, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1OMG JEZUS SEZ STOP!
  • MooseTaag, on 08/06/2008, -1/+7I read this as "Woman Clothes Her Own Pit Bull"
    Now that would be interesting.
  • ileftfark, on 08/06/2008, -1/+15South Korean cloning?

    It's a FAAAAAKE!
  • louiebaur, on 08/06/2008, -5/+1Man this is great I want to clone my DOGS tooooooooooooo.
  • JBravada, on 08/06/2008, -1/+3Doug Kinney #4: We're gonna eat a dolphin!
    Doug Kinney #2: We're going to pet a dolphin-- Multiplicity
  • snoox, on 08/07/2008, -0/+10no...she doesn't look like she'd have an unhealthy attachment to her dead dog
  • Dumbledorito, on 08/07/2008, -1/+9I heard this woman on NPR yesterday (I think she was being interviewed by the BBC). She didn't sound like the brightest bulb in the box.

    For one, she named the dog "Booger." Secondly, in her tale of Booger's loyalty, she described being mauled by a mastiff-sized dog, during which she prayed to Jesus and Booger came running and helped drive it away. So... who would Jesus clone, I guess?
    • markperia, on 08/07/2008, -0/+4lets clone Jesus!
      • wonderbriefs, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0Okay, I got this.
        Multiplicity #2: The Second coming, (and third, fouth, fifth...)
        Plot: Somehow some Jesus DNA is found, Somewhere around five clones are made and the dud is named Booger. Yeah, Booger Christ.
    • dbhalla, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1in my box of bulbs none of them are bright, because they're in a box
    • maronnax, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Why would praying to Jesus as she was being mauled make her dumb? (And I say this as an atheist, as I'm sure you are as well.)

      It sounds like her hand was bitten off and that she had at least a couple big bites taken out of her legs and stomach, to the point that she was hospitalized, wheelchair bound, and unable to open doors or take off her shoes and socks on her own - ie she was involved in a life threatening attack.

      I really would like to know - why would you feel that someone caught in that situation who prayed to be saved would be stupid?
      • ralphzor, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1She could have tried to figure out a way to help herself?
      • s0nicfreak, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0She should have run instead of sitting there praying
      • maronnax, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0So your contention, as well as ralphzor's, is that you believe this woman was attacked by a dog and FORGOT to try and run away, but instead decided to pray? Yeah, I agree that would, in fact, make her pretty damn dumb. It would probably make her officially "the dumbest creature on the planet", as even motile bacterium will try to get away if you attack them.

        I'm going to counter with my own theory. I think that you, ralphzor, Dumbledorito, and anyone else who actually thinks it didn't occur to this woman to try to save herself are probably suffering from a bad lack of imagination, a serious condition of writing without thinking, and probably a nasty prejudice against the religious.

        I'm an atheist too, but your opinions are blinding you to reason. A quick google search shows around 90% of your countrymen (assuming you're all americans) believe in god. If you honestly think they are all so dumb such that they would not run away from vicious attacking dogs, you're liable to be not invited to any conversation that matters. How in the world could anyone possibly take you seriously?
  • cjhandley, on 08/07/2008, -7/+2Jesus christ, some diggers are dumb.

    We've had natural clones for quite a while now, they are called "identical twins."

    This is nothing more than if the original dog had been birthed with multiple identical twins, so I don't know why it's so "scary."
    • sockpuppets, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1I'm a sock, we're always born with a clone.
    • snafflepaffle, on 08/07/2008, -0/+4Jesus christ, some diggers are dumb.
    • Spanktacular, on 08/07/2008, -0/+6Actually, it's much more than the identical twins you reference.

      Since the dog died at XX years of age, and that was the cellular age of the donor, figure out what to do when the "clones" start having weird genetic issues at around age 5 later on, huh?
    • danwallace, on 08/07/2008, -1/+1Digger dumb, some jesus's are christ.
  • thegrantman, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3Doesn't she look like James Earl Jones in Conan the Barbarian?
  • Ins4ne, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2

    wtf ?

    crazy old bitch !
  • thunderforce, on 08/07/2008, -0/+18I just hope nobody clones her....
    • mage1129, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0What are you talking about, we need more people with $50k who is just willing to throw it away, she is the cure to our economic woes.
  • PSotter, on 08/07/2008, -1/+5At long last, the promise of somatic cell nuclear transfer is democratized!!! Finally the people will be able to harness the awesome power of cloning! Let the cloned progeny of "Booger" herald a new age!
  • sockpuppets, on 08/07/2008, -0/+181. Pretend to clone puppies.
    2. Hand her puppies that look alike.
    3. Profit!!
  • vp0ng, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2In the fourth picture the middle puppy appears to have white markings on its head. A non identical clone? Or possibly an odd lighting effect?
    • sirbeta, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3They're not exact replicas of the dog, so there will be somewhat different traits about them. But they do share the blood line, etc.
      • evil-doer, on 08/07/2008, -1/+3clone = exact replica. so they are not clones
      • wonderbriefs, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0@ evil-doer, apparently you're not familiar with anything about the cloning process as it's been done since 1997. None of the actual, real-world clones that have been produced in the past 11 years were exact replicas. The birth of genetic cloning has led science to figure out that it takes more than identical DNA to produce an exact copy. Yet that doesn't mean its not a clone. Implanting a skin-cell from a parent into an unfertilized surrogate egg will produce a genetic clone.
        "Exact replica" clones are the invention of science fiction.
    • NuttySquirrel, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2If you look at any cloned animals they all look different. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/21/tech/mai ...

      Just because it's genetically identical doesn't mean it's exactly the same, as stupid as that is. Of course we know that from identical twins (although there have been studies saying IT aren't 100% genetically exact).
  • PeanutCheeseBar, on 08/07/2008, -1/+1All right! Now, instead of waiting for a story where someone gets mauled by one pit bull, we'll see one where they get mauled by five; priceless.
  • akohut, on 08/07/2008, -0/+4This kind of freaks me out. Her dog died so she cloned it ... and now has five of them.
  • Velocity14, on 08/07/2008, -0/+6"I believe that Booger was an angel that God rented out to me for a short period of time. And he knew I would be lost without him, so He sent me some more. "

    ... ... ...So it only takes $50,000 to get a hold of God, eh?
    • mage1129, on 08/07/2008, -0/+0It used to be a lot more expensive, you used to have to build a whole new chuch and have a few masses said for you.
  • enotswhat, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3Bob Barker where art thou?


    um hello Cloned Animal Control? I remembered to spay/neuter booger but he got into the cloner and now I have 80 boogers, will you be putting the extra 80 to sleep or deleting them? and what will PETCA say?


  • EarthernJar, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3Uh... what if you just wanted one as a replacement? Would it only cost $10,000?
  • centran, on 08/07/2008, -2/+2How come all the crazy dog owners insist on having pit bulls?
    I know pit bulls are great dogs under the right owner but all the "crazies" seem to want to own them... like they have to prove to people that pitties aren't killers but good dogs. The problem is the crazy dog owners act like silly children around their dogs and don't discipline them so instead of showing their message they are worsening the pit bull image with undisciplined dogs.
    • maronnax, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Well this dog probably saved her life by fighting off a dog three times its size, taught itself how to open doors for its owner as well as (again self-taught) take off her shoes and socks, because she couldn't do those things for herself.

      Sounds disciplined enough to me.
  • bclinton, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2Cool - They'll be ready to fight in about 18 months....when Vic gets out of jail.....
  • UnSuperSaid, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2She's lonely... someone give her a hug.
  • antdude, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1But the dog's characters are different.
  • JakeyG14, on 08/07/2008, -1/+4She's not an animal lover; just a ***** freak. I love my dog but when he inevitably dies, I'll buy/adopt a new dog (from a shelter) as opposed to cloning him and adding to the problem of too many stray and unwanted animals.
  • pseudojd, on 08/07/2008, -0/+5One of the dogs has a white spot on it's face. Can someone explain to me how that is a clone?
  • MarshalBanana, on 08/07/2008, -1/+3She should have gotten a play pal cindy instead.
  • hyperboy, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2dont they die faster than the old booger?

    (referring to Metal Gear Solid)
  • Hero0fTime, on 08/07/2008, -1/+3Who is next? Michael Keaton??
  • GMofOLC, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Maybe I missed something, but why are they a different colour than the big one?
    • krickett907, on 08/10/2008, -0/+0Because the big one is the female surrogate. None of her genes were used in making the puppies. They plant the cloned puppy embryos into the surrogate, who births the puppies when they are of age.
  • 808ethan, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2How do they know its a clone?

    Step 1: Money goes to ***** S. Korea
    Step 2: A box comes with wrinkly puppies

    There a prefect match!!!
  • WhoDoneIt, on 08/07/2008, -1/+3I'd do anything for our two dogs and have done so in the past.

    While I can easily recognize that this lady felt depressed and lonely after losing her precious pet, I could never do what she has done. The "original" dog was unique and it's personality traits were hard wired with their looks when you think of them in fond memories. The little patches here and there, the sparkle in their eye, the way they move around the house, just the way you want to remember them by.

    But just because a dog looks like the original dog through cloning doesn't mean it will behave like the original pet. You are cloning the looks, not the temperment. I suspect she will be sorely disappointed when her new pet is nothing like her old pet and can't understand why. It would be very confusing for the owner I would suspect. I know it would be for me.

    It would be creepy to have a 2.0 version of the dog I so much love right now and when his time has come, I will remember him for the unique pet, best friend he is.

    I can certainly get my happiness back caring for a new pet should I feel the need to have another one down the road, when the pain stops hurting.
  • Premier, on 08/07/2008, -2/+2Definitely photoshopped, the 3rd one has a striped face
    • ancientdinko, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1 the 'clone tool ' is ticky till you get the hang of it!
  • benofkent, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1From the picture it looks like she is going to eat it! Poor thing they will die young and I don't mean by being eaten.
  • Nudar, on 08/07/2008, -0/+3Talk about a waste of money and life. She couldn't have visited her local "humane" society and adopted one of the dogs there, 90% of which are pit bulls that get put to sleep?
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