While talking to my good friend Zen Toombs about how much we love our cats, it got me thinking about their life span .. and how we replace those cats with other cats (despite that we'd still remember and cherish our old cats.) Then got me thinking about tigers and how they're not replaceable since they're going extinct as far as I know. And this is how the thread was born.
Topic:
We're basically in the future now where our cell phones can basically do everything, how Japan has androids that can run, talk fluently and open bottles, mechanic dogs for the military that when pushed, it can get right back up- you name it. We're also successful in cloning things such as sheep in the past so now I wish to ask ... should we, the people, be permitted to clone tigers?
You can argue that their species deserve to live and the fact they're to awesome for the tiger race to be gone .. however, others can argue it's going against nature and we can clone tigers which they'd end up being abused or used for the wrong reasons. Many arguments can be used, ones i've listed and others more detailed and thought out. But truth be told, I don't think we should clone tigers for certain reasons alone.
Argument:
As much as I want the tigers to live and for them to have a stable population even if it means we must clone them, that ability we possess seems very conflicting. Instead of just saying it, here's an example of what will help my argument make sense- say that there's a very low number of Tabby cats in all of the world. The population or breed of tabbies are far to slim for any hopes of them reproducing kittens. So, we take it into our own hands and clone them. Now we're left with more tabbies therefore the breed is fine now.
A girl that shall go by the name "Amanda" goes to a local store or business that has a stock of cloned cats. These tabbies are quite popular for being cloned meaning almost everyone wants them. The tabbies are sold out, and the corporations behind selling the tabbies may consider altering the clones to come out 'better' or 'unique' with genetic coding. Now the next selection of tabbies glow in the dark, and now are a must buy in the market. They're sold out, and the business keeps rolling. Now Amanda has the latest feature in the tabby fiasco, she owns a tabby that has the fur coating that's very similar to a tiger (or can have a fur coat of any large cat in the wild). After some time, something happens to her pet. Amanda may feel sad, but hey- it was a clone. You can replace them easily!
So Amanda gets the next feature of tabbies available. They're now a product like the Ipod or practically any apple product in stored. When the next kind of tabby with a new feature comes out, people will want that. Sure not everyone, for they do love their pet but because it's a clone and so many can be produced .. what value do they really have at that point? Kill one, it was just a clone. So in truth, tigers being cloned can be a product for zoo exhibits to have, to entertain with trying to make 'blue coated' tigers, or seeing how we can test cloned tigers in medical uses meaning they're experiments. A lot of good can be done, yet bad too. I see the cons outweighing the pros in this. Remember when you had your first fish and it died? Well since they're so many, not expensive (assuming you're aiming for fish below $10) and easy to get, it's easy to replace. The ideal of clones is there's no consequence if one dies. They were made by us, therefore we have full power and control of what we do with them for better or worse. Heck black markets can try cloning tigers (it's not impossible if they got the research bullprints) and have private owners obtain tigers for personal uses like guard dogs or whichever the use may be.
Question:
If you read my argument (and I thank you for doing so if you did) then I want your opinion on this- are you for cloning tigers or against it? This can also apply to cloning pandas, certain animals, or pretty much any organism in the world. Scientists tried cloning dinosaurs and if they were successful, you'd think we'd just let them roam the world freely? Nah we'd use them, for entertainment to study purposes which may or may not be suited for the public's favor. Crap we could clone tigers for hunters to have fun hunting them, and pay to kill tigers as they can be simply produced to the customer's liking. I'm sort of mixing the question with more of my arguments and I apologize for that. SO, what do you guys think?