Cloning: New Solution For Pet Custody Battles

Would you spend $50,000 to clone your favorite pet? It's now possible. Read on.

You may have heard about the controversial custody battle between Ida Ljungqvist, the first African born model to become a Playmate of the month, and her ex-husband Joshua Lang.

Lang claims Ljungvist wrongfully took the family pet Chihuahua when the two split sheets in September.

Ljungvist's version is that "Bonnie" was a gift from Lang and therefore hers to keep.

Odds are the playmate will win this one.

Historically, women have tended to win split decisions in divorce court. Further, Ida has possession of the dog, which is property, (sorry animal lovers) and, as any first year law student will tell you: "possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Pets are not people, they are personal property like a Gucci bag or Lexus convertible, says the law of California. And, just as you wouldn't get access to your ex-wife's purse, the Court won't grant visitation with the family Schnauzer.

California is a community property state which means all property acquired by husband or wife during the marriage , whether personal property like golf clubs or real property like homes and land, are considered "community property" which gets divided equally between the pair.

Gifts, received by one spouse, on the other hand, are considered separate property and are that spouse's to keep. If the Court accepts Ida's testimony that the dog was a gift then she keeps the dog.

If, however, the Court rejects the "gift claim" then the dog is just another piece of community property which will be divided equally. And, as I said before, since Ida has the dog in her possession the Court will probably let her keep it.

And without visitation to the doleful ex.

Sorry Joshua, time to start shopping for a new Chihuahua, or... if you're open to other options...

How about cloning?

An alternative solution, though not cheap, is to have the mutt cloned.

South Korean based RNL Bio reported last year they had successfully produced five identical copies of "Booger" the deceased pet pit bull terrier of California resident Bernann McKinney. "They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person," Mckinney said.

For the five identical puppies, Mckinney paid $50,000.

Before Booger's death in 2006, McKinney excised and refrigerated tissue from the pit bull's ear. Skin cells from that tissue were used to create embryos by scientists at Seoul National University. The embryos were implanted into two surrogate mother dogs and three months later the puppies were born.

Scientists at Seoul National University cloned the world's first pet dog in 2005, an Afghan hound named "Snuppy."

Credit for cloning the first pet cat goes to another bio-technology company. In 2004 California based "Genetic Savings and Clone" successfully cloned "Nicky" the pet cat of a Texas woman named Julie for $50,000.
"He's identical. His personality is the same" said Julie in a story reported at the Human Genetics website.

Genetic Savings and Clone has closed its doors claiming the pet cloning process was not commercially viable given the available technology.

This report was composed using materials from BBC News, the Buzzle Web Portal, and the Human Genetics Website.