Most people who have dogs treat them like part of the family. Megastar Barbra Streisand had a 14-year-old Coton du Tulear named Samantha. Unfortunately, Samantha died in 2017. It wasn't long before the singer had replaced Samantha with two new dogs that look identical to the way Samantha looked.

There is a reason all of the singer's dogs look alike. The two new dogs are shaggy with white hair just like Samantha had. The public loves Streisand and her singing, but a lot of people think she went way too far by cloning her dog, not once, but twice.

Streisand told Variety that losing Samantha was like losing a child.

She said she would do anything to get her Dog back. Since she couldn't, she did the next best thing. When her social media followers saw that the dogs looked identical to her deceased pet, they figured out what the star had done. They didn't hesitate to reveal their disapproval.

DNA cells

Before Samantha died, the movie star had her veterinarian collect DNA cells from her cheek and send them to a Texas company to do the actual procedure. In fact, enough cells were collected that two new dogs were cloned. The singer named them Miss Violet and Miss Scarlet. They are the mirror image of Samantha, but they have different personalities. They look so much alike that Barbra dresses them in different colors to match their names.

She puts violet clothes on Miss Violet and red clothes on Miss Scarlet.

Barbra also has a third dog. Miss Fanny is named after the superstar's Oscar-winning role as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl." She is not a clone but a distant cousin of Samantha.

Not the first clone

Streisand's dog was not the first animal to be cloned.

Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996. Then in 2005, the first dog was cloned in South Korea. The Afghan hound was named Snuppy. Two years ago, a Jack Russell terrier was the first dog cloned in the United States. That gave Streisand confidence to go through with the expensive procedure. It costs her a lot of money to get replicas of her beloved pet.

The price was $50,000 to clone each dog.

The actress is happy with the decision she made to have a reminder of Samantha around. She revealed in an interview that the grieving process is much easier now that she has two dogs that look just like the one she lost. She said every time she looks at them, she thinks of her Samantha and smiles.

Some people think it is unethical to clone an animal. What do you think? If money was not an issue, would you clone a pet?
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED