UK's rising demand for pet cloning despite legal and financial hurdles

Chocolate-colored with a distinctive white blaze, Gem is a lively, healthy and happy cocker spaniel, bounding after a tennis ball. But she is no ordinary dog. Gem is a clone, with a remarkable likeness to the original dog she was genetically copied from.

Pet cloning is becoming increasingly popular, with owners eager to hold on to special memories of their beloved companion by recreating a similar animal. 

"The results have been more than they expected. They feel an instant connection with that original animal through the clone," says Lucy Morgan, Manager at UK-based Gemini Genetics, a company which facilitates pet cloning along with a U.S. partner. 

"Importantly though, they do recognize that the clone is their own individual. A clone is a genetic twin to the original animal, so they're going to display everything that's genetic about the original animal."

Britain famously created the world's first cloned animal, Dolly the Sheep, back in 1996. But this sparked an ethical debate, and the government banned the practice soon afterwards. Due to those ongoing legal restrictions, the UK is behind countries such as the U.S. in developing the pet cloning industry. 

Gemini Genetics can initiate the cloning procedure from the UK, but then the company must collaborate with a U.S. lab to create the actual embryo, as this cannot legally take place in the UK. Once the cloned animal is born to a surrogate, it is then lawfully shipped back to a UK owner.

Technology has come on leaps and bounds since Dolly's days and cloning a pet today is relatively straightforward – once owners clear the hurdle of the $50,000 fee. 

"We need a skin sample in order to clone your pet and here in the UK, it's most commonly taken after a pet has passed away," says Morgan. "Overall, the success rate now, after the many millions of pounds that was invested in optimising the technique, is very high. 

"When a sample is submitted to us, providing it meets our correct criteria, we have a 96 percent chance that we'll be able to generate living cells from that submitted sample."

Enzymes and flasks

The process in the lab at Gemini Genetics is relatively straightforward – adding an enzyme to the skin sample to release cells, which are then grown in a culture flask. 

It is those cells which contain the genetic profile of the donor animal, and they can be frozen indefinitely at a temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius until the decision is made to implant them into an egg.

Clones from prize-winning horses are also becoming more common. Murka's Gem, a handsome stallion, is the genetic replica of the legendary American horse, Gem Twist, one of the best showjumpers of all time and in high demand as a breeding stallion. 

"That original horse, he was a very successful show jumping horse, but he was a gelding, so wasn't able to pass on his superior genetics, so they cloned him," explains Morgan.

But some animal welfare organizations are still uneasy about the principle of pet cloning. In a statement, the British Veterinary Association said, "commercial cloning is not currently legal in the UK and given the ethical and welfare considerations, we would not support exporting the process with a view to re-importing the cloned pet." 

The UK's oldest animal charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also advises against it, recommending pet owners should instead rescue an animal in need.

But with growing public interest, it seems the pet cloning trend is likely to grow. Gemini Genetics hopes UK legislation could one day change, especially since Britain left the EU. 

"Look at the technology, it's just another form of assisted reproduction," says Morgan. "We're not altering the DNA of these animals in any way."