Nfl Great Tom Brady Says His Dog Is A Clone Of Family’s Deceased Pit Bull Mix

Former NFL backmost Tom Brady said Tuesday that his dog, Junie, is simply a clone of his family’s precocious pet Lua, created by Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology institution that Brady has invested in.

The Birmingham City co-owner revealed nan news successful a connection released done Colossal, which besides announced its acquisition of different cloning company, Viagen Pets and Equine. The 2 firms scheme to harvester their technologies to grow cloning services for pet owners and conservation projects.

“I emotion my animals. They mean nan world to maine and my family,” Brady said. “A fewer years ago, I worked pinch Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning exertion done a elemental humor tie of our family’s aged canine earlier she passed.”

Lua, a pit bull operation adopted by Brady and his erstwhile wife, Gisele Bündchen, died successful December 2023. The sample utilized to create Junie was collected earlier Lua’s death, according to Colossal.

Brady said nan institution “gave my family a 2nd chance pinch a clone of our beloved dog” and added that he is “excited really Colossal and Viagen’s tech together tin thief some families losing their beloved pets while helping to prevention endangered species”.

Tom Brady walks pinch his boy and dog, Lua, on nan Charles River successful Boston successful December 2012. Photograph: Stickman/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Viagen, now owned by Colossal, has antecedently cloned pets for celebrities including Barbra Streisand and Paris Hilton. The institution holds exertion licenses from nan Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, which cloned Dolly nan Sheep successful 1996.

Colossal, founded successful 2021, has drawn attraction for its “de-extinction” research, including projects aimed astatine reviving type specified arsenic nan woolly mammoth and dodo bird. The institution precocious claimed to person produced 3 cloned dire wolf pups, a declare that has been disputed by conservation groups.

Financial specifications of Colossal’s acquisition of Viagen were not disclosed. Cloning a canine done Viagen typically costs betwixt $50,000 and $85,000.

Dog cloning has occasionally surfaced successful mainstream popular culture, including an section of Nathan Fielder’s HBO bid The Rehearsal, which explored nan morals of replicating a beloved pet.

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and existent Fox Sports broadcaster, said his family considers Junie “not a technological experiment, but portion of our family”.