China has its first cloned kitten and it’s adorable

Sinogene already offers dog cloning and will now clone cats for US$35,400

Reading Time:2 minutes

I iz a clone. (Picture: Sinogene Biotechnology)

Published: 10:58am, 23 Aug 2019Updated: 10:58am, 23 Aug 2019

Would you shell out US$35,400 to clone your beloved Mr. Whiskers? That’s the asking price for one pet cloning company in China, which has now reportedly become the first in the country to create a genetically identical cat. The cuddly clone kitten was born on July 21.

Garlic, a British Shorthair, was created by Beijing-based company Sinogene Biotechnology. The company has become known in China for its dog cloning projects. Sinogene announced Monday that, thanks to Garlic, it will offer a cat cloning service in addition to the one it already offers for dogs.

Sinogene customers looking to clone their cats will have to cough up US$35,400. But they can take comfort in the fact that they're not cloning a dog, which the company charges US$53,800 for. The company says it made genetic copies of 20 dogs in 2018 and plans to clone 500 dogs a year within the next five years, Sixth Tone reported.

This year, the company was also involved in creating a puppy clone called Kunxun, which was bred using DNA from an award-winning police sniffer dog called Huahuangma. The Kunming police dog base described Huahuangma as “one in a thousand.”

Sinoegene argues cloning could be a better way of preserving the genetics of such animals, helping to cut training costs. Not everyone agrees, though.

“The body can be cloned, but the soul can't,” said one comment on Weibo, echoing singer Barbra Streisand, who was one of the first high-profile people to have her pet cloned.