Oh boy. A woman in California is paying $150,000 to have her recently deceased dog cloned.

By a member of Hwang Woo-suk’s research team.

And the dead mutt is called Booger.

Oh boy.

According to media reports the dog is being cloned by a company called RNL Bio. Their website has links out to all the media reports but no press release (at least in English, Korean readers please correct me on this).

The Korea Times says RNL Bio will deliver the cloned pit bull to Bernann McKinney, Booger’s former owner, in February next year. Booger was apparently particularly precious to McKinney as he saved her life after another dog bit off her arm (Daily Mail).

“We have been focusing on cloning specialized dogs such as narcotic detection dogs. But we won’t refuse orders for pet dogs,’” said CEO Ra Jeong-chan told the Korea Times. “There are many people who want to clone their pet dogs in Western countries even at this high price.”

He believes RNL Bio will receive up to 500 orders in the next few years. Apparently the company already has an agreement to clone drug-sniffing dogs for the Korea customs service. The price is steep though: you used to be able to get a cloned cat for $50,000 (those original cat cloners, of Nature fame, did however go bust).

According to the Times the actual cloning will be conducted at Seoul National University under the leadership of Lee Byeong-chun, who the paper describes as “a key member of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk’s research team”. Although much of Hwang’s work was later discredited, SNU did create the world’s first cloned dog in 2005, and produced more clones after that (Nature; subscription required).

Whether or not McKinney’s new pet will look like her old one remains to be seen. The appearance of animals’ coats is determined by factors in the womb, as well as genetics. I hope someone has told her this.

Best headline prizes: NY Times for Give the Dog a Clone; Reuters for Retrieve a retriever at Korean dog clone firm.

Image: an un-cloned dog / Getty