Cloning Pets: Streisand and Brady Replicate Their Dogs at $50,000 Each
Barbra Streisand and Tom Brady both cloned their dogs via ViaGen Pets, the only US clone company, based in Austin, Texas. Streisand's 2023 memoir 'My Name Is Barbra' details cloning her Coton de Tulear Sammie (d. 2017) into two copies, Violet and Scarlet. Brady's pit bull Junie is a clone of late rescue Lua. ViaGen's Matt James says cloning takes 9-15 months and costs $50,000 (dogs/cats) or $85,000 (horses). Although cloning restores nature, James notes nurture makes every animal unique. The piece asks whether cloning rescue Rosco would disservice the 6 million pets entering shelters yearly, against 4.2 million adopted.
Key facts
- Barbra Streisand cloned her Coton de Tulear Sammie in 2017 via ViaGen Pets, resulting in two clones named Violet and Scarlet.
- Tom Brady confirmed his pit bull Junie is a clone of his late shelter pup Lua.
- ViaGen Pets is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is the only US-based pet cloning company.
- Cloning costs $50,000 for dogs and cats, $85,000 for horses.
- The process takes nine to fifteen months, including wait-list time.
- Matt James is chief animal officer at Colossal Biosciences, ViaGen's parent company.
- Approximately 4.2 million dogs and cats were adopted last year, while nearly 6 million entered shelters.
- The article discusses the nature-versus-nurture debate in pet cloning.
Entities
Artists
- Barbra Streisand
- Tom Brady
- Matt James
Institutions
- ViaGen Pets
- Colossal Biosciences
- My Name Is Barbra
Locations
- Austin
- Texas
- United States
- China
- South Korea