Grief-Fueled Cloning Raises Big Questions

Man surrounded by reporters with cameras and phones — Photo: Facundo Florit / Shutterstock

Argentina’s President Javier Milei built a pack of giant dogs from his late mastiff Conan’s DNA, blending grief with cutting-edge cloning to shape his public image and inner circle.

Story Highlights

Reports say Milei cloned his late dog Conan, producing a pack of genetically related mastiffs.
Coverage identifies five puppies and names tied to free-market economists like Friedman and Rothbard.
Accounts cite a roughly $50,000 cloning bill and identify U.S. pet-cloning firms in the process.
The story sits inside a real, high-cost pet cloning market that serves wealthy clients.

What Happened: From Conan’s Death To A Pack Of Cloned Mastiffs

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that Conan, an English mastiff, died in 2017 after a degenerative disease. Afterward, multiple reports say Javier Milei obtained genetically cloned offspring. Buenos Aires Times coverage states that cells were sent to a United States cloning company and that five puppies resulted. Reporting places this effort around late 2017 into early 2018, linking Milei’s deep attachment to Conan with a decision to clone the dog’s DNA into new pups.

Buenos Aires Times described a company webpage naming Milei as a notable client and saying the pups were genetic clones of Conan. Several outlets repeat that five puppies emerged, while leaving some room on how many later survived. This narrower core—Conan died and puppies genetically tied to him arrived after a cloning process—appears across the coverage. The account focuses on the existence of cloned dogs, not on their behavior or personalities, which are separate questions.

Names, Ideology, And A Public Persona Built Around The Dogs

Reports say Milei named the dogs after economists central to his worldview. Outlets identify Milton, Murray, and Lucas, among others, as nods to Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, and Robert Lucas Jr. One pup is reported as Conan, echoing the original mastiff’s name. These details have become part of Milei’s political brand, projecting loyalty to free markets and a fierce outsider identity, with the dogs serving as visible symbols of that creed.

Coverage citing an unauthorized biography by journalist Juan Luis González reports Milei referred to the animals as his “grandchildren” or “four-legged sons,” and paid about $50,000 for cloning. While outlets differ on whether PerPETuate or ViaGen handled specific steps, they converge on the core facts of Conan’s death and the subsequent appearance of genetically related pups tied to a United States cloning provider.

Which Company And How Much: The Practical Mechanics Of Pet Cloning

Reports connect the project to United States firms that clone pets for paying clients. Buenos Aires Times references PerPETuate as identifying Milei on its site, while other coverage names ViaGen in the broader pet cloning market. Pet cloning has been priced around $50,000 for dogs, with ViaGen described as having cloned more than 1,000 dogs and cats since 2015, underscoring that the practice is real, commercial, and rare outside wealthy circles.

El País described a near $59,000 price point in recent years, matching the market’s upscale nature. These price and volume figures place Milei’s action within a known, if niche, industry. The reporting emphasizes that cloning makes a genetic copy, not a personality duplicate. That point matters to public understanding and helps explain why Milei’s dogs function as powerful symbols, not replicas of a lost companion’s mind.

Why This Story Resonates With Conservatives: Grief, Tech, And Personal Freedom

Milei’s choice underscores a tension many readers feel: how far should people go to keep what they love? The market exists because free people can spend on what matters to them. This case shows grief driving new uses of science, without government orders or mandates. The details—Conan’s death in 2017, the later arrival of cloned pups, and the economist names—are well-established across multiple reports, even as some specifics, like exact survivor counts, receive less clarity.

For a United States audience facing daily fights over choice and control, the lesson is simple. Personal liberty lets families decide how to honor loss. Private firms, not bureaucrats, met that demand. The Milei story is unusual, but it shows how markets answer private needs. Readers can judge the ethics for themselves, but the facts are plain: a leader turned to science to rebuild a pack, and in doing so, he made his values visible to the world.