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theStormWeaver t1_iunja1h wrote

What was the most surprising thing you learned as part of this?

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eb_bartels OP t1_iunk9gn wrote

I think I was most surprised by people's motivation to clone their dead pets! When researching/talking to people I tried really hard not to let my own assumptions or judgment cloud my perception of what they were sharing, though I have to admit that I went into the cloning interviews with some skepticism -- why would you want to pay all this money to try to duplicate your animal when it's not even actually the same animal? I assumed people were unable to let go of their dead pet and just trying to pretend the animal never died. But after talking to people who worked at various cloning companies and interviewing one gentleman who had his dog cloned, I learned that often people do it because they aren't trying to copy & paste the same animal they had before but want to continue the lineage. For example, they wish they could breed their cat with distinctive markings but had them spayed/neutered before they realized they wanted to. Or, like the man I interviewed about his dogs, he said he really loves knowing that his two clones are related to his previous dog, like they are her twin sisters and that it makes it special to have them for that reason. I loved hearing that.

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