Football superstar Tom Brady has revealed his dog Junie is a clone of his former pet, Lua, who died in 2023. Brady worked with Colossal Biosciences, the genetic engineering company known for its work to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction, to draw blood from Lua before her death and create Junie.
“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,” he said in a statement through Colossal, in which he is an investor. “Colossal gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog.”
The announcement comes alongside Colossal’s acquisition of animal-cloning company Viagen, which has performed similar services for Paris Hilton and Barbra Streisand. Such high-profile cases, and Colossal’s efforts to resurrect the dire wolf, coincide with calls to “pause” animal cloning, including one from the ASPCA.
The pet replication business will be Colossal’s key to generating revenue and paying back investors in the near term while the mammoth market matures. Cloning a dog or cat through Viagen costs roughly $50,000 ($85,000 for a horse), according to The American Animal Hospital Association.