A United States woman said her controversial decision to spend $38,000 AUD to clone her dead cat has saved her life.
Kelly Anderson from Texas was devastated after losing her “soulmate” cat Chai more than four years ago.
It was then, she decided to replicate her beloved pet.
“It was just one of those moments where I had been talking about cloning a few weeks before and fate kicked in,” she told Weekend Today.
“I remembered the conversation and decided to clone.”
Anderson said the cloning process took about four years, roughly two years longer than the average, and it cost her a whopping $USD25,000 ($AUD38,000).
“It was not money that I had come easily to me but it was a very important process for me to do,” she said.
“It was 100 per cent worth it. The process saved my life.”
Now Belle, the successfully cloned cat, has grown to be equally as “bold, bossy, sassy” as Chai once was.
“As Belle has gotten older has become more and more like Chai’s personality,” Anderson said.
“I would still say she’s very much her own cat and I treat her that way. I always try to treat them as individuals.
“I never wanted to put expectations on Belle to be Chai. But I would say that they’re very similar in a lot of ways.”
In 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first cloned mammal to be created from an adult cell.
Decades on from the scientific breakthrough, Anderson has become one of many who have turned to cloning their pets.
She has documented her story on social media and while some people were interested by her decision, others failed to understand it.
“I think there’s people who are fascinated and don’t even realise that we’re cloning animals … so a lot of people are learning about cloning,” Anderson said.
“But a lot of people also have opinions. So it’s a mixed bag.”
