Bill Bailey spoke out about his dream ‘fantasy pet’ and reveals why he would want one for an unexpected reason, as dire wolves have been brought back from extinction
Joker Bill Bailey has said he wants to get a pet wolf for one strange reason – to fend off burglars.
The 60-year-old – best known for TV show Black Books, his stand-up shows and winning Strictly in 2020 – said if he had a wolf living with him he wouldn’t have to worry about criminals breaking into his home. Earlier this month it was revealed that the dire wolf – extinct for more than 12,000 years – had been cloned, with three pups created by Colossal Biosciences Inc.
The pups, brothers called Romulus and Remus and a female pup called Khaleesi, were created using DNA from a 72,000-year-old dire wolf skull found in Idaho, and the tooth of one found in Ohio. It is believed to the be the world’s first ‘de-extinction’, with the pups set to reach more than 10st – around 140lb – when they are fully grown.
Speaking recently, Bill Bailey said he’d love a wolf to live with him.
He said his home in west London is filled with animals, which have in the past included parrots, dogs, tree frogs, lizards, chickens, ducks, and giant rabbits. At the moment, he and wife Kris have two Belgian Malinois-husky-cross dogs, called Loki and Lucu, and four cockatoos.
Asked what his ‘fantasy pet’ would be, he said: “Wolves are great.
“You wouldn’t worry about burglars.”, he told the Home supplement in The Sunday Times earlier this month.
Grey wolves were hunted to extinction in the UK in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In 1999, however, a senior lecturer in zoology at Aberdeen University – Dr Martyn Gorman – called for them to be reintroduced into Britain to deal with the overpopulation of red deer, which destroy trees.
Similarly, dire wolves were brought back from extinction after almost 12,000 years. A US-based biotech firm made the puppies by extracting DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull.
This was combined with the genetic code of a grey wolf, the closest living relative, to make healthy puppies, Colossal Biosciences chief executive and co-founder Ben Lamm said.
The team cloned high-quality cells by transferring them into donor eggs. The embryos were then transferred to a surrogate, which gave birth to three healthy pups.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
