OCALA, FL — The chestnut stallion was the love of Zarela Olsen’s life.
A majestic hall-of-fame horse with personality and a copper coat bright as a new penny, Capuchino often greeted his fawning owner with kisses, nuzzling her neck and licking the back of her ears.
“When he died, he took my heart with him,” said Olsen, 46, of the Paso Fino horse who died in Ocala in 2009. “I could not stop crying and crying.”
But Olsen had planned ahead, investing $160,000 in the replicating services of a biotech company specializing in the controversial practice of animal cloning. Her champion’s genetic duplicate, Capuchino Forever, was born last May. His birth — and the increasing number of horses cloned in the U.S. — has spawned debate and wonder among breeders and owners in the equine world, including Marion County, self-proclaimed “Horse Capital of the World.”
“They smell money,” said Carol Harris, 86, owner of Bo-Bett Farm near Ocala, a horse breeder for about 60 years and an outspoken opponent of cloning champions. “They’re looking for a shortcut to a great horse.” Read more…
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