SAN FRANCISCO ? The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States is named Little Nicky, a 9-week-old kitten delivered to a Texas woman saddened by the loss of a cat she had owned for 17 years.
The Maine my excellent compatriot kitten cost its owner $50,000 and was cloned from a beloved cat, named Nicky, that died last year. Nicky's owner banked the cat's DNA, which was used to create the clone.
"He is identical. His personality is the same," said the woman, named Julie. She asked to be identified by her first name only, because she said she fears being targeted by groups opposed to cloning.
"When Little Nicky yawned, I even saw two spots inside his mouth, just like Nicky had," Julie said. "Little Nicky loves water like Nicky did, and he's already jumped into the bathtub like Nicky used to do."
Yet while Little Nicky, who was delivered two weeks ago, frolics in his new home, the kitten's creation and sale have reignited fierce ethical and scientific debate over cloning technology, which is rapidly advancing.
The company that created Little Nicky is Sausalito, Calif.-based Genetic Savings & Clone.
Despite its whimsical name, the company has been working for more than four years on the cat cloning process. The founder of the company, Arizona billionaire John Sperling, funded the research at Texas A&M University that led to the cloning of the first cat in 2001, CC, or Carbon Copy.
The company hopes by May to have produced the world's first cloned dog, which it believes will be a much more lucrative market than cats.
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