"Pit bulls are in crisis, and the addition of five pit bull clones to the dog population is an inhumane and unnecessary endeavor," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane Society of the United States.
Approximately 6 to 8 million dogs and cats enter animal shelters every year and according to an informal shelter survey by The HSUS, on average, 30 percent of the dogs admitted are pit bulls or pit bull mixes. In some large, urban shelters, pit bulls can represent more than 70 percent of the dog intake, due to a lack of spaying and neutering and because pit bulls are the dog of choice for dogfighters.
"Millions of homeless animals are euthanized in American shelters every year due to overpopulation. The pit bull is perhaps the most abused and persecuted dog breed in America, and the money spent to clone this one pit bull could have been better used to help so many more," Markarian said.
"Fifty thousand dollars could have funded thousands of spay and neuter surgeries, provided toys and beds for numerous pit bulls in shelters, or provided law enforcement agencies with rewards for tipsters and other new tools to aggressively pursue dogfighters. Between dogfighting, abuse, and overpopulation, pit bulls today are in desperate need of help from the dog-loving community, not an escalation of the problem based on junk science," Markarian said.
According to media reports, the five clones were created by Seoul-based RNL Bio in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists.
In May, The HSUS and the American Anti-Vivisection Society released a report, Buyers Beware: Pet Cloning Is Not for Pet Lovers, highlighting the animal suffering, questionable claims, shoddy science, and dubious background of certain players in the pet cloning scheme.
Facts
- The HSUS/AAVS report reveals that more than 99 percent of cloning attempts published in scientific journals fail to produce a healthy animal. In these studies, researchers created 3,656 genetically manipulated embryos and used more than 530 dogs and cats to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned cats surviving beyond 30 days. There were four miscarriages and five deaths within 30 days after birth. Numerous other animals have likely suffered invasive procedures during cloning attempts.
- Some pet cloning company investors and executives fail to communicate the animal welfare toll taken by cloning ventures. As detailed in the HSUS/AAVS report, these companies have shown a willingness to take advantage of grieving pet owners, charging customers large sums of money to "bank" the tissue of their pets for possible future cloning, while failing to clearly communicate to consumers the reality of cloning: that a cloned animal won't necessarily look or behave like their original pet.
- Two other U.S.-based companies have failed to deliver on pet cloning promises to their customers and have since shut down.
-30-
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.
