{"id":261932,"date":"2025-11-04T21:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/261932\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T21:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:43:10","slug":"nfl-great-tom-brady-says-his-dog-is-a-clone-of-familys-deceased-pit-bull-mix-tom-brady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/261932\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL great Tom Brady says his dog is a clone of family\u2019s deceased pit bull mix | Tom Brady"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady<\/a> said Tuesday that his dog, Junie, is a clone of his family\u2019s late pet Lua, created by Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology company that Brady has invested in.<\/p>\n

The Birmingham City co-owner<\/a> revealed the news in a statement released through Colossal, which also announced its acquisition of another cloning company, Viagen Pets and Equine. The two firms plan to combine their technologies to expand cloning services for pet owners and conservation projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,\u201d Brady said. \u201cA few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family\u2019s elderly dog before she passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lua, a pit bull mix adopted by Brady and his former wife, Gisele B\u00fcndchen, died in December 2023. The sample used to create Junie was collected before Lua\u2019s death, according to Colossal.<\/p>\n

Brady said the company \u201cgave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog\u201d and added that he is \u201cexcited how Colossal and Viagen\u2019s tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tom Brady walks with his son and dog, Lua, along the Charles River in Boston in December 2012. Photograph: Stickman\/Bauer-Griffin\/GC Images<\/p>\n

Viagen, now owned by Colossal, has previously cloned pets for celebrities including Barbra Streisand<\/a> and Paris Hilton. The company holds technology licenses from the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, which cloned Dolly the Sheep<\/a> in 1996.<\/p>\n

Colossal, founded in 2021, has drawn attention for its \u201cde-extinction\u201d research, including projects aimed at reviving species such as the woolly mammoth and dodo bird. The company recently claimed to have produced three cloned dire wolf pups, a claim that has been disputed by conservation groups.<\/p>\n

Financial details of Colossal\u2019s acquisition of Viagen were not disclosed. Cloning<\/a> a dog through Viagen typically costs between $50,000 and $85,000.<\/p>\n

Dog cloning has occasionally surfaced in mainstream pop culture, including an episode of Nathan Fielder\u2019s HBO series The Rehearsal<\/a>, which explored the ethics of replicating a beloved pet.<\/p>\n

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and current Fox Sports broadcaster<\/a>, said his family considers Junie \u201cnot a scientific experiment, but part of our family\u201d.<\/p>\n