Spider goats display angers professor

An Ottawa university professor is up in arms over goats implanted with a spider gene at a museum display. The two female white goats, named Sugar and Spice, have been an attraction at the Canada Agriculture Museum for about two years. Both "spider goats," as they are called, have a spider's silk-spinning gene.



Beatriz Oliver, a part-time anthropology professor at the University of Ottawa, said she is shocked the animals are on display. She said the display itself upsets her because the animals are called natural on a plaque, which also includes notes such as:

"These goats produce milk that contains spider silk and the spider silk is extracted and spun into BioSteel, which is used in bulletproof vests and medical sutures." "I think it's so fundamentally wrong," Oliver said. "Just to present it as something that's OK, that's normal ... I think that's not accurate. I think there should be both sides of the story on those panels."


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The museum's curator said they are not advocating for any genetic engineering, but presenting the fact these goats exist. "What we're doing is presenting a piece of information and the visitor can make up his or her own mind about it," said curator Franz Klingender. The museum also said it will never breed the animals.