Back from the dead: Couple who paid $155,000 to CLONE their dog after his sudden death

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Happy purchase: Nina and Edgar Otto spent $155,000 at an auction to have their dead Lab Sir Lancelot (pictured left) cloned to produce Lancelot Encore (right)

One couple couldn't bare to live without their beloved yellow Labrador, so when he died of cancer they put a fortune into bringing him back.
Edgar and Nina Otto spent $155,000 in getting their beloved deceased dog, named Sir Lancelot, cloned.
'I would've gone higher, I would have done anything at that point,' Mrs Otto told TLC during a segment of their series called I Cloned My Pet.
The process began in 2008, when their 11-year-old dog was diagnosed with, and then died due to, cancer.
'We didn't expect him to die, he was much too young,' Mr Otto said.
Though they may have been shocked when it actually happened, the Ottos were prepared and first had Lancelot's DNA stored four years prior to his death when they first heard that cloning technology was beginning to be developed.

A big little pup: Lancelot Encore was the first commercially cloned pet

New pup: Lancelot Encore was the first commercially cloned pet and his owners paid $155,000 for the service


True inspiration: Edgar Otto and his wife enjoyed the original Sir Lancelot for his 11 years of life

CNN reports that Mr Otto is the son of Edward Otto, one of the co-founders of NASCAR, which helps explain why the auction price of the cloning procedure was not off-putting.
The cloning itself was done in conjunction with a San Francisco firm called BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea.

A cat called Little Nicky earned the title as the first commercially cloned pet when a woman in Texas paid $50,000 for the service.

Lancelot Encore, the cloned version of Sir Lancelot who goes by 'Lancey' for short, was the first cloned dog and he was born in 2009. BioArts, the American partner, suspended their commercial cloning service in September 2009, though the process is still completed in South Korea.
In animal cloning, the stored DNA of the animal is then injected into the egg of a surrogate dog. The South Korean firm is the only one to have perfected the technology as of yet.
In spite of continued criticism of pet cloning by animal welfare groups, which argue it is wasteful to spend thousands for a replica pet when there are so many homeless already, the Ottos are very happy with their decision.
'I only was hoping to get the essence of Lancelot back,' Mrs Otto said.
'I know I've gotten that. Anything else is icing on the cake.'
Among their shared features: the way that Lancey croses his paws exactly how his predecessor did.

Didn't make the cut: The Ottos have a whole shrine of their deceased pets- and have nine other living dogs currently- but decided that Sir Lancelot was the only one to be cloned

The new pup also had no trouble blending right into the family, where the couple's nine other dogs immediately accepted the familiar face.
'There was no baring of teeth, not ever a single growl, so the pack accepted him,' Mr Otto said.

source: dailymail