Media billionaire Barry Diller has cloned his beloved Jack Russell terrier, Shannon, into two new pups.
Sources say Diller, the chairman of IAC, became so attached to Shannon that he got the pampered pooch’s DNA cloned by a specialist company, which created a pair of puppies who are almost exact replicas.
Shannon was no ordinary terrier: One year, she disturbed his annual pre-Oscars picnic with his designer wife Diane von Furstenberg by finding her way onto the Spanish-tile roof of the couple’s hacienda. Shannon proceeded to run back and forth perilously close to the edge, in view of worried guests including Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins and Diana Ross, forcing Diller to head up to the roof deck to lure her down.
The Post also reported that Shannon slept in a grand, custom-made, neoclassical doghouse when she was not making the scene at LA Oscar parties.
Cloning dogs costs up to $100,000, and is done by a Korean firm that implants DNA into a dog egg. A rep for Diller confirmed the cloning but didn’t comment further.
