Background Facts
In recent years the cloning of a range of animal species, including cats and dogs, has been reported. In the United States, commercial companies have been established with the purpose of storing genetic material from pet cats and dogs with view to future cloning of these animals.
It is accepted that there are potential risks to the production of cloned animals, both to the animals involved in producing the clone and the clones thus created. The success rate for cloning is limited – the two recently cloned dogs were the only live births from a total of 1095 embryos implanted into 123 surrogate dams. The negative welfare implications of cloning are discussed in the Draft Interim Report of the Companion Animal Welfare Council (CAWC) Report on Breeding and Welfare in Companion Animals. The UK Kennel Club is opposed to the cloning of dogs which is contrary to their objective of ‘promoting in every way the general improvement of dogs’.
It has been suggested that the recent production of cloned dogs has limited value with respect to research into canine disease which is best studied in the natural dog population. Moreover, the UK Animal Procedures Committee (APC) recommends that licences should not be granted for animal cloning with trivial objectives such as the creation or duplication of pets.
British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) Policy
The BSAVA does not support the cloning of cats and dogs for commercial purposes and recognises that the procedure as it applies to research is covered by the UK Animal Procedures Act.
The BSAVA does not endorse the process of commercial collection and storage of genetic material from companion animals for the express purpose of cloning a specific pet animal.
References
- Animal Procedures Committee, Report on Biotechnology. (2001) www.apc.gov.uk
- Companion Animal Welfare Council, Draft Interim Report on Breeding and Welfare in Companion Animals. (2005)
- UK Kennel Club, Policy Statement on the Cloning of Dogs (2004).
- Shin T, Kraemer D, Pryor J, Liu L, Rugila J, Howe L, Buck S, Murphy K, Lyons L, Westhusin M, A cat cloned by nuclear transplantation. (2002) Nature 415: 859.
- Lee BC, Kim MK, Jang G, Oh HJ, Yuda F, Kim HJ, Shamim MH, Kim JJ, Kang SK, Schatten G, Hwang WS. Dogs cloned from adult somatic cells. Nature 436: 641.
Approval: BSAVA Council 2005