Barbra Streisand Reignites Debate Over Animal Cloning as She Reveals She Has Clones of Beloved Dog

Barbra Streisand's decision to clone her dog has rekindled a debate over cloning pets.

The legendary star revealed to Variety in a recent interview that two of her dogs, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlet, are clones of her beloved Samantha, who died last year at the age of 14.

PETA has criticized Streisand’s decision to clone her dogs rather than adopt.

“We all want our beloved dogs to live forever, but cloning doesn't achieve that-instead, it creates a new & different dog who has only the physical characteristics of the original," the organization said on Twitter.

“We feel Barbra Streisand's grief at losing her beloved dog but would also love to have talked her out of cloning.”

The act of cloning beloved pets appears to be growing in popularity.

Danielle Tarantola of Staten Island, N.Y., was devastated when her dog, Trouble, passed away in 2009.

She had a mural of the dog’s likeness painted on a wall in her house and sleeps with his ashes, so it came as no surprise that she would jump at the chance to clone the canine.

She named the clones Double Trouble and Poppy.

"I loved Trouble's personality," she told Inside Edition. "I loved him as a puppy. I loved him growing up. I wanted to have the same dog again."

Clones may be biologically and physically identical to the pet they were made from, but that may be where the similarities end.

"Personality traits and even the color of the fur can vary tremendously," Dr. Brett Levitzke, a veterinarian at the Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group (VERG) in Brooklyn, told Inside Edition.

In addressing Streisand's decision to clone her dog, PETA also cautioned those considering cloning their pets in an effort to make an exact replica.

“Animals' personalities, quirks, & "essence" simply cannot be replicated, & considering that millions of wonderful adoptable dogs are languishing in shelters every year or dying in terrifying ways when abandoned, you realize that cloning adds to the animal population crisis,” the animal rights group tweeted.

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