Unnatural Breeding

"Three healthy reclones of Snuppy are alive, and as with Snuppy we do not anticipate that the reclones will go through an accelerated rate of aging or will be more prone to develop diseases than naturally bred animals."
"Animal cloning has gained popularity as a method to produce genetically identical animals or superior animals for research or industrial uses."
South Korean scientists, report published in the journal Nature

"We do not imagine using these technologies for cloning humans."
"[The three puppies now about a year old] will be closely watched. Almost every aspect of their life will be measured -- their disease development, their immune system and growth and metabolism."
"[When Snuppy was born], the major concern was whether these guys [cloned dogs] would live [a natural life] or not."
"[Today], “there is lots of pet cloning going on right now. Owners are concerned whether their clones will live [a normal lifespan] or if they will experience accelerated aging and die early. So, there is some business concern."
CheMyong Jay Ko, University of Illinois

"[The] battle over humans [that will continue to surface through cloning will focus on genetic engineering, not pure replication]."
"What we'll see is more attempts to engineer humans [through gene-editing techniques like CRISPR]."
"There may be an occasional single oddball that wants to clone themselves to reproduce, but it’s going to be on the margins."
“If you have a lot of people cloning animals, it’s the same problem we have now — who’s going to want the stray or the mutt?"
"[And] If you’re paying a whole lot of money for a cloned dog, disappointment becomes a big issue around cloning because you’re paying for, ‘I want this product'.’ It makes them a little more like manufactured goods."
Arthur Caplan, Professor of Bioethics, Langone Medical Center, New York University

The three surviving reclones at two months of age. They were dervived by SCNT of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) taken from Snuppy at five years of age.  PST

Snuppy, the original Snuppy named for 'Seoul National University puppy', was born with the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer, in 2005. An embryo was created through the use of a nucleus removed from a somatic cell and transferred to an unfertilized egg, stripped of its own nucleus. The resulting embryo that was to become the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan Hound, was inserted into a surrogate female dog, to produce Snuppy. Who lived for ten years.

South Korean scientists recloned Snuppy with the use of stem cells taken from his body fat at five years of age. A special type of stem cells called mesenchymal cells, capable of differentiating to several types of cells were used to create Snuppy's clones. Taken from Snuppy's belly fat then frozen, to go through a thawing process recently, placed in a culture to grow, and injected into eggs( with their nucleus removed) from female canine donors. And then, as with the original, the cloned embryos transferred to surrogate female dogs to carry through gestation to birth.

The health of clones has been a matter of some controversy, that they were more susceptible to early onset of diseases. Snuppy, however was healthy until he developed cancer, just as his predecessor from whom the original stem cells were taken to produce Snuppy had. But ten years reflects the average lifespan of a large hound such as Afghans. According to the report the researchers published in Scientific Reports journal, the second generation of Snuppy clones will lead to a "new era" in studying the health and longevity of cloned animals.

Snuppy's predecessor-cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, died of the effects of severe osteoarthritis along with a disease of the lungs, at just six years old, representing half the normal expected lifespan for a Finn Dorset sheep. Birth defects have commonly been reported for some cloned puppies, as the researchers pointed out in their paper, published in Scientific Reports. On the other hand, other dogs that have been cloned were born defect-free and were able to reproduce naturally.

Afghan hounds have a mortality rate from cancer of 31 percent, while cancer is common in dogs of all breeds who contract a kind of cancer seen exclusively in dogs; hemanglosarcoma. When Snuppy's clones were created, a total of 94 retrofitted embryos had been transferred to recipient female dogs to carry through to birth. Four of them were born by Cesarean section, but It appears that only three survived.

Snuppy walks on the grass as South Korean stem cell researcher Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk announces the first successfully cloned Afghan hound at the Seoul National University on August 3, 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-  Jun/Getty Images

 It was actually a discredited South Korean stem cell scientist, Hwang Woo-Suk, who pioneered the cloning of dogs. He had advanced himself as having created human stem cells from a cloned embryo, his claim causing a sensation in the world of science and bioethics. Until it was discovered that his research findings were faked. After experts in the field verified the reality of his work resulting in Snuppy, he now focuses on his Sooam Biotech Research Foundation specializing in dog cloning "No matter its age, size and breed", a purely commercial venture for which the rewards are high; up to $100,000 for a cloned puppy for grieving dog owners.