Woman, laid off 3 years ago, pays 50K to have dog cloned

When New Yorker Danielle Tarantola's beloved mutt Trouble died at the age of 18, she decided she simply couldn't go on without him.

So she paid $50,000 to a company in South Korea to clone the dog, and is now the proud owner of an exact genetic replica of her original pet, aptly named Double Trouble.

Tarantola, a former Wall Street worker who was laid off three years ago, recently appeared on Anderson Cooper's talk show to share her story (via the Daily Mail).

Story: Dog owners get second chance in 'I Cloned My Pet'

She actually got a major discount on the procedure, which was supposed to cost $100,000, after agreeing to appear on a TLC special about pet cloning, ABC reported.

TLC

Danielle Tarantola's deceased dog Trouble (left), and his clone Double Trouble.

The "new" Trouble was born a few months ago in Korea, while Tarantola watched on webcam. He's since arrived in New York, and Tarantola says she can barely tell the difference between the original Trouble and his replacement, the Daily Mail reported.

Pet cloning has been highly controversial since the famous cloning of Dolly the sheep back in 1996. The procedure for dogs is currently only available in South Korea.