The science of genetics means we may never have to say goodbye to our pets. A US company promises to mend broken hearts with a "love that lasts forever".

This year, ViaGenThe company bought the intellectual property to cloning technology from the Scottish research centre that cloned Dolly the sheep. successfully cloned an instafamous cat called Chai. Her owner, Kelly Anderson, paid the lab £19,000 for a "100% genetic twin" called Belle. "Chai was my soulmate," says Anderson, and this was a "coping mechanism for losing her".

Animal cloning is not new. In 1996, a sheep named Dolly became the first mammal copied from an adult somatic cellA cell with two sets of chromosomes. Sexual reproduction normally requires a sperm and an egg, both with one set of chromosomes.. A feline duplicate called Copy Cat was born in 2002.

Scientists remove the nucleus from the cell of a deceased pet. They fuse it into another animal's egg, giving it a "zap" of electricity to jolt it to life. Finally, they implant the cloned cell into a surrogate.

Why is pet cloning so controversial?

Over 15,000 years ago, humans began hanging out with friendly wolves. We bred them to be docile and loving. The result was the domesticated dog. For its supporters, cloning uses science to do what humans have been doing for millennia: editing animals for our happinessStudies show that the hormone oxytocin is released when owners look at their pets..

Melain Rodriguez of ViaGen says their customers "want to be able to carry on that strong emotional bond that they have with the pet." And if they can afford £38,000 for a duplicate dog, why not?

"It is a little bit like taking advantage of people's grief," says geneticist George Church. PETA told Anderson her actions harmed cats "sitting in shelters waiting" to be adopted.

Behind each rich person's reincarnated canine is an "underclass" of suffering animals, says Bioethicist Jessica Pierce. Many clones are born with defects or die prematurely and the mothers undergo traumatic and unnecessary pregnancies.

Scientists still cannot copy a pet's personality. According to psychologist Samuel Gosling, there are "biologically inherited tendencies," but "personality is the result of the interaction between temperament and the environment."

Or, as Barbra StreisandIn 2018, the American singer revealed she had cloned her dog Sammie to make three clones called Miss Fanny, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett. put it: "You can clone the look of a dog, but you can't clone the soul."

For now, only the super-rich can afford these services.

Most families own a pet and no animal lives forever. So, in the future, more of us may be faced with this difficult question.

Yes: It is obscene to spend so much money on recreating a dead pet when living animals are in desperate need. Clones don't have the same personality or memories, so this is a selfish waste of time.

No: Cloning shows how strong the love is between an owner and their pet. Both benefit from this loving relationship. Critics should worry more about people who mistreat and abandon their animals.

Or... This is just the tip of the iceberg. Pets have become a status symbol and a fashion statement. So we need to rethink our entire relationship with animals. Maybe we shouldn't keep pets at all?