I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my dearly departed My Girl. Maybe it’s because we’ve just gone through the first instance of my current companion My Guy not feeling well (though I’m pleased to report he turned the corner yesterday, phew). Maybe it’s because Lewis Hamilton’s heartfelt account of losing his beloved Roscoe kicked up all the feels in me. Maybe it’s Maybelline. For whatever reason, the lady has been on my mind more than usual. Having to send our faithful pets across the rainbow bridge is the absolute worst, no matter how sure you are it’s the best, kindest decision. I’ve been through that pain before, and though I shudder to acknowledge it, I know I’ll go through it all again. Frankly, I’ve always adopted a new rescue fairly soon after saying goodbye to one (within a few months), and each time it genuinely felt like the previous pooch had sent the new pup in my path.
All that to say, I understand the need to fill that love void. What I don’t understand, or just can’t get behind, is going about that process… by cloning your recently deceased dog. But I guess this is where Tom Brady and I differ, as he just revealed that his pit bull mix Junie is a clone of predecessor Lua who passed away two years ago:
Brady shared the news on Tuesday, Nov. 4, coinciding with an announcement from Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company that he is an investor in — and that worked with him to clone his beloved Lua. On Nov. 4, the Dallas-based company, best known for its headline-making claim that it produced three dire wolf pups, announced that it has acquired another biotech company, Viagen Pets and Equine.
Viagen is known for cloning Barbra Streisand’s dog Samantha, who died in 2017, and Paris Hilton’s dog Diamond Baby into two puppies after the pet went missing in 2022. The biotech company has “exclusive licensing and access to the breakthrough technologies” that were developed by the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, which is widely known for cloning Dolly the Sheep in the late ‘90s, Viagen said in a press release obtained by PEOPLE.
Brady’s late pet Lua was cloned using blood collected prior to her death in 2023, the Colossal investor said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,” the former NFL star said. “A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family’s elderly dog before she passed.”
The company “gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog,” Brady continued, adding that he is “excited how Colossal and Viagen’s tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species.”
While Viagen has made headlines for cloning pets for celebrities like Streisand, Hilton and now, Brady, Colossal is best known for its “de-extinction” efforts, like its dire wolf project, which it debuted in April. In September, the Texas-based company also announced a scientific breakthrough in its effort to bring the extinct dodo bird back to life.
Oh NO, not those bird-brained scientists spending millions of dollars to bring back the Dodo and Moa… Heavy, weary sigh. Again, I truly understand the pain of losing your pet. But there are so many in need of rescue! I think that’s why Brady’s comment that cloning Lua “gave my family a second chance” especially smarted; how many shelters are there full of animals looking for their own second chance? And not for nothing, but even Barbra Streisand came around to the realization that cloning only really goes so far as looks. Also, and I realize this is a matter of individual preference, but the last thing I wanted after losing My Girl was a pup who resembled her in any way. For me, that would have been too painful. In fact, all of my dogs thus far have looked entirely different from one another. I actually think that’s how I’m able to fall hard for a new dog after the loss of another, because they’ve been so distinctive. Anyway, it’s all moot for me because cloning is gastronomically out of my price range. I just have to bark on my soap box on behalf of all the floofs!
Note by CB: All these photos of Tom are with Lua. He was also in an Uggs commercial with her!
photos credit: RMLA/Backgrid, INFphoto.com and Mayer Photo/Look Press/Avalon, Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages, mpi34/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
A pitbull mix? The shelters are full of loving pitbull mix dogs who deserve a chance. Why not adopt another and give a generous donation to the shelter? What happens when this clone dog doesn’t live up to expectations? This is just vanity.
EXACTLY!!!
I kept a tooth of my beloved cat Tiger, a tall, 20 lb. orange tabby, for this express purpose. In the 90’s, I knew this would be a real possibility within my lifetime. Now that I could do it, I won’t. The clone may look the same, but he wouldn’t have the same personality. He wouldn’t be my baby and the best friend a lonely only child ever had. Every pet is special, and we have to appreciate them as once in a lifetime loves.
No. No no no no no.
this is a horror movie waiting to happen.
And I cried last night thinking of GoodboyOllie on IG turning 11 and how one day my chocolate lab will turn 11 and then even older and then he’ll DIE and I dont know what I’m going to do about it.
So I get loving your dog.
but this – NOPE.
I don’t have instagram any longer but I follow Ollie on tiktok. He is the sweetest boy. And he has such a great life…even if he does have to put with Tato. 🙂
I want to go live with them and visit nanny biscuits and the ducks!!!!
Cloning to get a loved one / pet back strikes me as irreverence of spirit.
I am horrified by this.
Don’t get me wrong: I understand why, but you can’t copy and paste a living being.
Too bad he can’t clone Gisele! 😂
Hahahah
I don’t know, grief makes you do things. I had my cat Mickey for 21 years. If they had said right then they could clone him, I would have done it.
This is how you know someone has too much money.
That isn’t your dog Tom. It’s just a copy. I have so much money I just don’t know what to do with it.
The lights are on but no one is home continues.
His actions scream “regret about my past” and that’s sad; however, adoption would honor his dog more than cloning.
If I had the money, I’d definitely clone my two dogs while they’re still alive. Then I could enjoy my ‘blended’ family while understanding that the new puppies are completely different animals.
This cloning animals is not a road we should go down. Because you know they will not stop at animals.
This is so evil and self-centered. The shelters are overflowing with dogs (and cats!) in need of homes, adopt one of them if you want another furry friend. A clone is genetically identical but won’t be the same because organisms are a product of their environment as well as genetics.
Nope.
And here’s why, your pet is nature AND nurture. I had to take my senior cat for a dental today (I was a wreck waiting for the call that he’d woken up from the anaesthetic, not helped by being beyond exhausted from work travel and seeing a rainbow on my way there this morning) and he charmed every person who crossed his path yet again. It’s partly because he has good looks on his side but it’s mostly his personality and behaviour. I might be able to clone him physically but without the personality it wouldn’t be worth it.
When his time is up I’ll be adopting.
Rescue a dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sure, it’s tempting — but it’s also bizarre and wrong.
I absolutely love our rescue dog, and will be destroyed when her time comes, but she’s so uniquely her, not because of how she looks, but because of how utterly goofy and lovable she can be. She’s formed as much by our love as we’ve been shaped by her presence in our lives. There’s no replicating the years that it took.