The five little Boogers and how they grew

By sporte on August 7, 2008.

Leave it to those wacky Korean cloners. In December, scientists from Gyeongsang National University gave us fluorescent kitties. Now, we have cute little puppies!

These aren't the first cloned pets on the market, we have stores that sell glowing fish. But these clones have a bit higher price tag. For $50,000 Bernann McKinney got 5 new "Boogers" from RNL Bio; "Booger McKinney," "Booger Lee," "Booger Ra," "Booger Hong and "Booger Park." That's $10,000 a Booger!

Still, who can resist these cute little boogers? I have a picture of the puppies below the fold and as you can see, they're adorable!

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image from Associated press

You can also see Ms. McKinney squeezing one her brand new Boogers here (AP article).

It's a heartwarming story. From USA Today, the original Booger

saved her life when she was attacked by another dog three times his size. The incident resulted in her left hand being severely injured, and injured her leg nerves and stomach. Doctors later reconstructed her hand and she spent part of her recovery in a wheelchair.

Ms. McKinney had a strong attachment to her dog. She had even tried to get Booger clones before from Genetics Savings and Clone but they shut down in 2006, leaving her Booger-less.

This time the cloning produced a result. The team, headed by Korean scientist Lee Byeong-chun, claims to have identified the clones as genuine. The claim is being tested by another group at Lee's University.

I know there are people who will criticize Ms. McKinney and say she was misguided and she hasn't really restored her beloved Booger to life. They're right of course. But I also know many people who always get the same breed of dog because they like the personality traits that are characteristic of that breed. And, who can blame dog owners for forgetting sometimes that the second dog is not the same dog as the first? Emotions aren't logical. I think for all practical purposes, Ms. McKinney's cloned Boogers are close enough.

And they're really, really cute.

UPDATE: The New Scientist blog (and lots of news reports) tell us that Bernann McKinney's story is even more unusual than that of her pups. This picture shows what one of the puppies has to say.

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$50k for a dog which will live for probably less than half of the average lifespan of that breed? Not the best financial investment ever.

Oh, I'd never say that was a good investment. It's just that people don't think rationally when it comes to their pets.

Speaking of thinking rationally ... it seems that Ms. Kinney may be a bail jumper, convicted of kidnapping and rape back in 1978.
New Scientist Blog report on Bernann/Joyce McKinney.

Thanks TomJoe,

This story just gets more interesting all the time. Maybe next we'll find out she's a Raelian.

Done and done. Clones of my dog, Izzy (Izzinator McWizzface) are now available for $15k

http://i34.tinypic.com/290vviw.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/2mn3gn7.jpg

Andrew: I love the bee outfit. What a cutie!

"Not the best financial investment ever."

That depends on how much money a person has to burn and what they consider a good return. Not everything pays dividends in cash.

Hi
in fact, it is all a lie, a fraud, a PR fraud. read on

I am doing research on this fake cloning Booger story. Ms McKinney is
a serial liar. she lied about being a screen writer, she lied about
teaching drama "at several US colleges, she lied at first about being
the Mormon rapist, and did you know she did not have to pay full
150,0o0 USD fee, reduced to just 50,000 for her, because she HELPED
OUT with publicity, according to the lab. read between the lines,
those dogs were not cloned from booger's dna, they are just normal
puppies, cute as hell, but we been had by a serial liar. i am looking
into this. it's funny, and sad. WATCH THIS STORY IMPLODE..