If a Florida couples’ recent investment is any indication of the future, man’s best friend may have some cloned competition. A Boca Raton couple, Edgar and Nina Otto, paid a California firm $155,000 to clone their beloved pet Labrador, Sir Lancelot. The result came in the form of four month old Lancey.

     The couple reports that the new dog acts and treats them just like their former canine friend; he even spends much of his time near the bush where Sir Lancelot died. The Ottos’ nine other dogs accepted Lancey into the pack from day one.

     Last year, the Otto’s dog died of cancer. However, they have been considering cloning for the better part of a decade. Years before the tragic death of Sir Lancelot, the couple decided to have a sample of his DNA frozen and preserved, in case a chance at cloning ever arose. Eventually, it did, in the form of an auction hosted by BioArts. Outbidding the other five families who participated, the Ottos won the chance to clone a pet; after the death of Lancelot, the choice was clear. They sent his frozen DNA to BioArts, where it was then shipped to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in Seoul, South Korea. There, the DNA was inserted into an egg, and Lancey was “born” on November 18, 2008.

     Cloning has been a controversial issue since its’ onset, and this new notion of commercial cloning has sparked a new wave of detractors, namely The Humane Society of the United States.

     "Given the current pet overpopulation problem, which costs millions of animals their lives and millions in public tax dollars each year, the cloning of pets has no social value and in fact may lead to increased animal suffering," says the organization on their website.

     The Ottos, who have donated more than $300,000 to their local Humane Society,  have a different opinion on their beloved Lancey. "We just got him because we wanted to have Lancelot more than just the 11½ years he lived," said Nina Otto. "The only reason I don't go to the Humane Society is because I would bring every one of them home." Whatever the future of commercial cloning may hold it is safe to say that, for clone-dogs like Lancey, their bark is worse than their bite.