On May 21, 2008, an announcement was made by Start Licensing that it had granted the California biotech company BioArts International license for the cloning of dogs and cats. The company was one of the creators behind the cloned dog Lancelot Encore who lives with a couple in Boca Raton, Florida.Miami Herald: Cloned dog joins Boca Raton family... (January 28, 2009)

The four highest bidders in an auction held by BioArts named "Best Friends Again" won the chance to have their dogs cloned. One person also won the chance to have a dog cloned for free. The company said they auctioned off the opportunity to have a dog cloned because it is very difficult to clone dogs and they can only clone a limited number.Homepage: BioArts International

One couple who won the opportunity to have a dog cloned was a family in Boca Raton, Florida, who recently received the cloned dog Lancelot Encore. He is believed to be the first commercially cloned dog in the United States. The couple spent $155,000 to have Lancelot cloned. He arrived in the United States on January 26, 2009 after being created in South Korea.Miami Herald: Cloned dog joins Boca Raton family... (January 28, 2009) Lancelot Encore is a clone of a dog the couple lost in January 2008.Homepage: BioArts International

BioArts is working with South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk. He was involved in the creation of Lancelot Encore. In 2004, Dr. Hwang's research team claimed it had successfully cloned both stem cells and human embryos - a claim later found to be false. He lost his research professorship at Seoul National University in 2004 due to the scandal, but was involved in creating a cloned dog the next year.Miami Herald: Cloned dog joins Boca Raton family... (January 28, 2009)

BioArts plans to offer several other services and products besides their limited cloning program. For example, they plan to launch parentage and disease testing for the general public and a criminal forensic testing for the Chinese government.Homepage: BioArts International

1. "I know the association with Dr. Hwang is going to be controversial. One of the contradictions of Dr. Hwang is that he made mistakes on his human stem-cell research, and he's the first to admit that."— Lou Hawthorne, BioArts International
2. "If anyone thinks they're going to get Fluffy back, they're gravely mistaken. (A cloned dog is) likely to be a totally unknown dog, just as if you went to the pound and adopted another, unknown animal."— Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer, Advanced Cell Technology