Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
A dog's tale about sharing happiness
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Davis Hawn, left, poses with his dog Booster along with a graduate after receiving master's degree from Bergin University of Canine Studies in Rohnert Park, California, in July 2013. / Courtesy of Davis Hawn
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Davis Hawn, a 56-year-old retiree from the United States, is visiting Korea to clone his dog “Booster” who he says gave him another life.
“Booster is my Bible. He taught me the meaning of love. Booster is love,” Davis Hawn said during a recent interview held on the sideline of his tour of the Sooam Biotech cloning facility in Guro-gu, Seoul.
“One night I was very depressed with drugs and alcohol, and I almost did something very silly,” he said. “The dog kept trying to pull me back to people and bring happiness to my sad life.”
He said his life was full of depression and he had almost killed himself before meeting his dog. He was an alcoholic and suffering from diabetes. He could not use his left leg properly.
“Around 2005, my friend’s stepson_ who was almost like my son, living in my house working for me _ took a knife and almost killed me because I didn’t give him money for drugs. The son stole my truck … and the police put him in jail.”
Since that experience, Hawn sold most of his possessions and house and traveled around in his camper in despair.
“When I went to the junkyard to get my truck, the police found the puppy in the truck and asked me to take it. That’s Booster. I took him because I didn’t want to leave him to die.”
“One day, when I let children play with Booster, he was in physical pain…from hitting the (truck) hitch. I was in emotional pain. I felt sorry for him. I realized he gave me a little boost and that saved my life. I made a promise to him that I would never do a silly thing again, and always be there for him.”
Since he met his dog, his business has gone well and he retired early two years ago. He is now raising seven dogs in his house in Mississippi, and exchanging international correspondence with other dog-lovers.
To be a dog expert, Hawn earned a master’s degree in dog education and the canine business at Bergin University of Canine Studies, which was founded in 2004 and known to be the only accredited academic institution in the world dedicated to advanced canine education and research.
He found the cloning information on the Internet and decided to pay big money to clone Booster and share love with others.
Booster is almost 10 years old and too sick to make a trip to Korea, Hawn added. So he decided to contact Hwang Woo-suk, who heads the only animal cloning facility in the world. Veterinarian Hwang is one of leading scientists in the world in the field of cloning science. However, the former professor at Seoul National University was dismissed from the school for doctoring science papers about human cloning.
“Booster is an amazing dog,” Hawn said. “You’ve got a dog here that has fostered international relations, a dog who has loved kids with AIDS in the country, the first recipient of a vaccine for cancer, and who also saved my life.”
The cloning reportedly costs $155,000. The facility clones an average of 15 dogs per month, according to institute officials. It takes about three months to clone a dog using cells from the dog’s body.
Hawn plans to come back to Korea in three months to see the cloned version of Booster.
His plan for the cloned dog, to be named “Boosted,” is to share the story of Booster and use his new dog to help people.
“You can only keep the happiness by giving it away. I can keep my happiness if I can help people. The cloned puppy is another way to help other people. The clone is my mental well-being. I want to continue to share the story of Booster with Boosted,” he said.