Date: Fri 28-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Pet-clone-dna-business

Full Text:

Company Hopes To One Day Clone Pets

FARMINGTON (AP) -- Can't live without Fido once Fido's gone? Two entrepreneurs

may have the answer.

For $1,000 per pet -- plus a $100 annual storage fee -- Heather Bessoff and

Ron Gillespie will take a genetic sample from a living or dead animal and keep

it frozen at their lab.

They say the DNA can be stored until science figures out a way to clone dogs,

cats and other lifetime companions who may not stick around for an owner's

lifetime.

Bessoff is a veterinarian and Gillespie an agricultural consultant. So far,

PerPETuate Inc. -- run from Bessoff's basement -- has signed up six customers

since it began in October.

"There could be people who don't agree with what we're doing. We understand

that," Bessoff said. "But we feel there are so many benefits."

Scientists have so far cloned only mice and farm livestock such as sheep.

Recently, a dog owner donated $2.3 million to Texas A&M University to try to

clone his beloved Missy.

Martha Westerfield, who stored a tissue sample of her Maltese dog Lacy, who

died of cancer, said, "It's a comforting feeling to know that maybe someday we

can have her back."

Lisa Lange, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,

suggested people instead adopt one of the millions of homeless animals that

are put to death every year.

"[Animals] are not commodities to be manufactured like tomatoes or

grapefruit," she said.