Some animal welfare groups oppose the practice of cloning pets. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) described it as a “horror show” and the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) states that “there is there is no justification for cloning animals for such trivial purposes”
But there are other uses for cloning technology, perhaps less trivial. For example, Wisely has long been interested in diversifying the gene pool of the critically endangered black-footed ferret.
Today, there are about 10,000 black-footed ferrets, bred in captivity from just seven individuals, Wiseley said. This level of inbreeding is harmful to any species—it tends to put organisms at risk of poor health. They are less able to reproduce or adapt to changes in the environment.
Wisely and her colleagues had access to frozen tissue samples taken from two other ferrets. Together with colleagues from the non-profit organization Revive and Restore, the team created clones of these two people. First clone, Elizabeth Ann, born in 2020. Since then, other clones have been born, and the team has begun breeding the cloned animals with the offspring of the other seven ferrets, Wisely says.
The same approach was used for clone the endangered Przewalski's horseusing decades-old tissue samples housed at the San Diego Zoo. It is too early to predict the consequences of these efforts. Researchers are still evaluating cloned ferrets and their offspring to see if they behave like typical animals and if they can survive in the wild.
Even this practice is not without its critics. Some point out that cloning alone will not save any species. After everything it does not address habitat loss or human-wildlife conflict, which is primarily responsible for the threat to these animals.. And there will always be detractors who accuse people who clone animals of “playing God.”
Despite her involvement in cloning endangered ferrets, Wiseley tells me she wouldn't consider cloning her own pets. She currently has three rescue dogs, a rescue cat, and “senior chicks.” “I love them all very much,” she says. “But there are a lot of rescue animals that need homes.”
This article first appeared in The Checkup magazine. MIT Technology Review weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday and be the first to read articles like this, register here.
