Company offers to clone family pets

MILL VALLEY, Calif., May 22 (UPI) -- A California biotechnology startup says it will sell five slots giving people the opportunity to clone their family dogs.

BioArts International, based in Mill Valley, Calif., said it has been granted the sole, worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species. The Best Friends Again program is a partnership between BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, the company said Wednesday in a news release.

The New York Times said one of the principal scientists at Sooam Biotech is Hwang Woo Suk, who helped clone a male Afghan hound named Snuppy in 2005.

An online auction will be held next month to sell the dog cloning service slots to the general public. Bidding will start at $100,000, BioArts Chief Executive Officer Lou Hawthorne told the newspaper.