Dolly with horns
The company's mission statement sounds futuristic: "ViaGen enables the owners of cattle, horses and pigs to preserve and multiply their best genetics through gene banking and cloning services, and to protect their brands through genomic services." And then there's a special service for "entertainment livestock producers". Who might they be? 
Well, one is Victoriano del Río, a ganadero, or breeder of Spanish bulls and he now wants to clone Alcalde, his greatest prize, which has sparked debate in Spain. "Cloning does not improve the race," genetics and bullfighting expert Javier Canon was quoted as saying.
Alcalde is 16 years old, weighs 500 kg and has fathered 40 of the finest fighting bulls. The superb El Juli has killed two of them and so impressed was he by their spirit that he had their majestic heads stuffed and placed in his trophy gallery. Greater love hath no man than...
Next week, technicians from the Texas-based ViaGen will be in Spain to take tissue samples from Alcalde. These will be used in the fertilizing of a bovine egg, which will then be implanted in a cow. If all goes well, the first cloned son of Alcalde will be disporting himself this time next year under the Spanish sun. A kind of Dolly with horns. Wouldn't it be a laugh if he turned out to be ovine in personality? And the torero shall lie down with the ganado bravo, as it were. It's unlikely, though. Meanwhile, if you wonder why men fight bulls, "Haunted by the Horns" is the title of a beautiful ESPN essay on the subject.
