by: Xavier E. Martinez, xmartinez@onlyforpetlovers.com

Summary: A California based biotechnology company has cloned five puppies from a rescue dog used during the Ground Zero recovery effort.

James Symington and BioArts CEO Lou Hawthorne pose with the five clones made from Trakr's skin sample.

Mill Valley, California – Last week, scientists in California said they cloned the German Shepard who pulled the last remaining survivor from the wreckage at ground zero. Trakr, who sadly passed away in April, was the winner of a contest geared towards showing the potential of dog cloning.

“The idea behind the Golden Clone Giveaway was that members of the public would submit essays to us explaining why their dogs where clone worthy,” said Ben Carlson, spokesman for BioArts International. “We received dozens of entries, many very compelling interesting and heartwarming. But when we read the entry of James Symington and Trakr we were blown away.”

Symington, a former Nova Scotia Police officer who now lives in Los Angeles, entered the contest because he believed Trakr deserved to be memorialized. A distinguished police work dog, which took part in numerous drug busts and robbery cases, Trakr also helped pull victims from the rubble at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks.

“Not only was this dog an exceptional dog in many respects including behavior, athleticisms and intelligence. But also a dog of great professional accomplishments,” Carlson said.

Symington, living in Nova Scotia at the time, drove Trakr to ground zero shortly after the first attack took place. Over the course of three days, Trakr was a crucial asset to the rescue effort being that all air traffic had been ceased into the city. Trakr was one of few rescue dogs in extremely high demand at the time.

When Symington wrote in to BioArts in 2008, he was an easy pick for the judges.

BioArts International is an innovative biotechnology company, which offers services like dog cloning and gene banking to the general public. The Mill Valley based company ran The Golden Clone Giveaway in conjunction with the announcement of the grand opening of their subsidiary company Encore Pet Sciences.

The contest was a way to promote the possibilities of cloning in the 21^st century.

The South Korean BioArts staff thumbs up another successful clone.

“We produced five clones of Trakr. We originally envisioned producing just a single clone, but we decided Trakr as such an exceptional dog would make a great candidate for us to do something to illustrate the power of cloning,” Carlson said.

To create a dog clone, scientists must first take a skin sample from the living creature to be cloned. Then, they take an unfertilized egg from a female dog and remove its DNA. The enucleated egg is fused with the cells from the skin sample and stimulated to begin cell duplication. That results in a cloned embryo, which is finally transferred to a surrogate mother to be carried and birthed.

Encore Pet Sciences charges $138,500 for this service.

“It’s only a small minority of the public who will attain pets this way. In part due to the expensive process,” said Carlson.

However, he said there is a market for the service, and since the announcement of Trakr, BioArts has received many inquiries regarding cloning.

BioArts International warns misconceptions of cloning in the media have led to a misunderstanding of what cloning really is. Although the new animal is a genetic copy of the original, it is still a different individual with its own thoughts, behavior and mannerisms.

“Movies have created a popular notion of cloning where a clone emerges full grown from a machine with the memories of the original animal. The fantasy then is cloning is a way to immortalize a pet or bring a pet back to life. Frequently, we are in the position of having to explain in reality cloning has nothing to do with that,” Carlson said.

Encore Pet Sciences does not cater to individuals interested in bringing their pets back to life. But they do work with individuals who would like a genetic twin of a dog they feel is perfectly suited for their household. Some factors in deciding this may be size, temperament or activity level.

James Symington and Trakr helped pull survivors from the rubble at ground zero during the 9/11 attacks.

Mixed breed owners may be especially interested in this service because their dog may just be a “breed of one.” Because it’s a mutt and the chances of obtaining another dog with that particular mix is really limited. With cloning, scientists can produce what amounts to a later born identical twin of that dog.

“It’s useful for us to use the same analogy of a twin. Everybody who’s met twins knows they look alike and have genes but they are individuals. They don’t have the same mind,” Carlson said.

Genetics, however, do influence behavior, and cloned dog owners may see similarities in the behavior of their new pet with its original.

For more information visit http://www.encorepetscience.com/