Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady said Tuesday that his dog, Junie, is a clone of his dog who died about two years ago.
Brady made the announcement in a statement the same day Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences, the company that cloned his dog, acquired Viagen Pets and Equine, which specializes in cloning animals, ESPN reported.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is an investor in Colossal Biosciences, which describes itself as the "de-extinction company" that drew headlines earlier this year for cloning dire wolves after they had been extinct for more than 10,000 years.
"I love my animals," Brady said in a statement released by the company to the press. "They mean the world to me and my family. A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family's elderly dog before she passed."
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 2002, Viagen has expanded from its focus on livestock to pets, equine and endangered species, according to a press release. Viagen has exclusive access to early technologies that were used to clone Dolly the sheep in the 1990s. It will operate under its current leadership as a wholly owned subsidiary of Colossal.
Viagen President Blake Russell said in a statement that the acquisition means the companies will be able to operate "at a scale that simply wasn't possible on our own." the company has successfully cloned 16 species, including firsts such as the black-footed ferret and Przewalski's horse.
The company has notably cloned celebrities' pets. Those include Barbra Streisand's dog, Samantha, as well as Paris Hilton's dog, Diamond Baby, People magazine reported. Cloning a dog or cat costs $50,000 total, according to the company's website.
Brady's dog, a pit bull mix he adopted with his then-wife Gisele Bundchen, was cloned from the late Lua's blood that was collected before she died in 2023, reported People.
Colossal Biosciences has presented its gene-editing and cloning technology as a high-tech way of preserving the world's biodiversity as more species face extinction.
Brady said in his statement that Colossal's acquisition of Viagen will "help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species," The Washington Post reported.
But groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other critics of pet cloning argue that it can mean producing multiple animals that are discarded before a successful clone, according to the paper.
"PETA empathizes with Tom Brady and anyone grieving the loss of a beloved companion animal, but the best way to honor them is to recognize that they aren't replaceable and adopt," a spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday in a statement shared with the Post.