First assisted puppy

2001/04/09 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Etika

Assisted fecundation has become something common among human beings, even among many animals. Less in marine mammals.

The veterinarians of the Sea World, in California, are happy because they can soon have before their eyes the first puppy created by artificial fertilization. The parks of Sea World have been trying for 12 years to fertilize with assisted prayers, but all programs have failed. However, Kataska's orca from California Park was inseminated for the first time with the seed of the Tilikum orcha from Orlando Park. Kataska is already in 14 months of breeding and researchers expect the small orca will be born in August.

The orca is not in danger of extinction and, in that sense, there is no need for artificial fertilization. The problem in parks is another. Because the orcas are so big that the parks are not so big, in a park you can not have a lot of orca and the reproduction is more complex than expected. For this reason, the genetic diversity of the orcas of the parks is reduced. The success of artificial insemination would allow to increase genetic diversity without orcas passing through here.

They have successfully drawn research, but the news gives a lot to think about, because they have sold it as a solution to a problem, but not to mention that the problem is originated by themselves. Can we forget the context and consider only the positive aspects of research?