Well, it’s springtime, there’s a still a chill in the air though not as harsh as we’ve felt these past months. The softening of the climate is making way for budding bushes and flowers, birds are returning, bees and bears alike awakening from hibernation, life is coming back into the world. In 1997, a new life in particular was brought to the world, a new kind of life. With the birth of Dolly the sheep, bioengineering produced the first mammalian clone. She lived for six years, not very long all things considered, but long enough to be impressed with the technology. The intervening years saw advancements, and as Dolly shuffled off this mortal coil, Banteng #1 gifted us with her presence. She was one of two who were born in 2003, the first endangered species clones to survive more than a few days. Banteng #1 lived a healthy life for 7 years. The purpose of cloning endangered animals isn’t necessarily to replace them via that method alone. Species become threatened when their habitat is disrupted, and that needs to be addressed first and foremost. What cloning can do, is help the species along its way, bide some time, and perhaps in the future add genetic resistance and biodiversity when their numbers have dwindled to the point where rebuilding the population would only produce offspring from a small set of ancestors. The question remains: do we have a right to tamper in God’s domain? Dear readers, you should know by now that when themes of death and rebirth come a knockin’, Our Lady of Mercy, the Massive Mighty Mother of Gaia, Patron Saint of Aerial Ass Whoopin’s, the benevolent Mothra herself will not be far behind.

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