By Nancy Isles Nation
The Marin Independent Journal
MILL VALLEY, Calif. — A Mill Valley company selected Trakr - the dog who found the last survivor at the World Trade Center in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack - as the winner of its “Golden Clone Contest.”
The German shepherd was selected from a large pool of submissions from around the world. BioArts International, which is also holding an auction for five dog cloning slots, sponsored the giveaway with the goal of identifying the world’s most “clone-worthy” dog and replicating it at no cost to its owner.
 Former Halifax police officer James Symington and his German shepherd Trakr search through the rubble at the site of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in this Sept. 13, 2001, file photo. (STEPHEN CHERNIN / AP Photo) |
“We received many very touching submissions to our contest describing some truly amazing dogs, but Trakr’s story blew us away,” said Lou Hawthorne, chief executive of BioArts. “His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt in our nation’s darkest hour - and we view the cloning of him as a great honor.”
Trakr, a 15-year-old male who no longer has use of his back legs, was selected based on an essay written by James Symington, a former police officer who now lives in Los Angeles. He and the dog were among the first search-and-rescue teams to arrive at ground zero after the attack.
Symington said the two braved horrific conditions while searching for both the living and the dead and ultimately located the last human survivor under 30 feet of unstable debris.
Within 30 days, BioArts will transport a sample of Trakr’s DNA to a South Korean lab with an expertise in canine cloning.
“I can’t imagine the joy I’ll feel on that day,” Symington said. “If the clone has Trakr’s abilities, then of course we’ll put him into service as a search-and-rescue dog - and I’ll dust off my gear as well.”
Scientists consider dogs among the most difficult animals to clone because they have an unusual reproductive biology, more so than humans. But BioArts maintains that the technology is ready, and it is calling the dog-cloning project “Best Friends Again.”
Hawthorne, who lives in Mill Valley, was the CEO of Genetic Savings & Clone in Sausalito until 2006, when the company shut down and paid refunds to its customers who had paid to have their pets cloned.
He said the technology was not refined at that point and the operation was burning though millions of dollars a year to keep going.
Copyright 2008 The Marin Independent Journal