Barbara Streisand’s cloned dogs ‘visit mom’s grave’

Barbara Streisand has shared a picture of her beloved dogs – two of which were cloned following the death of her previous pet – paying their respects to their “mom”.

The singer’s photo on Instagram showed her pooch twins Miss Scarlet and Miss Violet, along with cousin Miss Fanny, at the grave of her late Coton de Tulear Samantha.

“The twins Scarlet and Violet honoring their mom (with cousin Fanny in the center!) ,” the star wrote.

Streisand revealed that she had Samantha cloned in a piece she wrote for the New York Times in 2018.

“I was so devastated by the loss of my dear Samantha, after 14 years together, that I just wanted to keep her with me in some way,” she wrote. “It was easier to let Sammie go if I knew I could keep some part of her alive, something that came from her DNA.

“A friend had cloned his beloved dog, and I was very impressed with that dog. So Sammie’s doctor took some cells from inside her cheek and the skin on her tummy just before she died.”

Miss Fanny was adopted from the same breeder as Samantha, Streisand said.

She finished her piece by saying that “each puppy is unique and has her own personality”.

“You can clone the look of a dog, but you can’t clone the soul. Still, every time I look at their faces, I think of my Samantha…and smile.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Barbara Streisand’s cloned dogs ‘visit mom’s grave’