Ron Reagan on MSNBC comes out against pet cloning and in favor of adoption

Ron Reagan has done it again. On Wednesday, March 30, he slammed foie gras, (see http://www.dawnwatch.com/3-05_Animal_Media_Alerts.htm#REAGAN OR http://tinyurl.com/de9cw). Today, Monday May 2, the host of MSNBC's "Connected: Coast to Coast," came out against cat cloning. His tone was light but he ended with a recommendation that people drive down to their local animal shelter and adopt a real live kitty because they would be saving a life.
You'll find the web version of the piece on line at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6969478/ and I will paste it below. Please send and an appreciative comment to Ron Reagan at: RReagan [at] MSNBC.com I thank activist Priscilla Gargalis for making sure we knew about this.

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• May 2, 2005 | 5:53 p.m. ET

In fear of copied cats (Ron Reagan)

This just in from the frontier of cloning (from where else, but in California?): Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys has introduced a bill that would render illegal the cloning of those four-legged feline bundles of delight and bedevilment—domestic cats.

That's right, a ban on kitty cloning.

This is bad news for the company reputed to be the only pet cloning outfit in America, Genetic Savings and Clone as well as upstart Allerca which has been planning to clone and market hypoallergenic cats.

Levine's concern? A disaster such as befell us when we crossed African and European bees and accidentally created “killer bees.” He may have a point.

Even now, the only thing keeping cats from world domination is their inability to open those little cans of food. A bit of misapplied genetic tweaking and cats could gain opposable thumbs and forefingers. That would be the end of civilization as we know it. Humans would be reduced to a race of mouse breeders and mackerel farmers. Cat worship a la Ancient Egypt would become mandatory. Kitty inquisitions would force us to renounce dogs: The days of the week would be scrambled and Christmas would be moved to July; no particular reason— cats are just perverse that way.

Of course, there are less paranoid reasons to frown on cloned cats: Cats that, by the way, will run you some $32,000.

Take a drive down to your local animal shelter. There, for the nominal cost of spaying or neutering, you'll be able to adopt a real live, all-natural kitty. You'll save a life. You'll make a new friend. And you just might preserve civilization as we know it.

E-mail RReagan [at] MSNBC.com.

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