MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- A Northern California biotech company offering to clone the dogs of the five highest bidders in an online auction and to the winners of an essay contest has chosen its first K-9. And many consider the winner a hero.

Slideshow: Bay Area Company Offers To Clone Dog To Highest Bidder

BioArts International of Mill Valley opened a Web-based giveaway open to anyone in the world who qualified and convinced the company that they deserved to have their dog cloned for free. The company asked that people write a 500 word essay on why their dog should be chosen.

Opening bids in the online auction later this month start at $100,000 for the service, the company said.

James Symington, a former police officer who now lives in Los Angeles, convinced the company Trakr was the dog they should clone.

“Once in a lifetime, a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a pivotal role in history,” Symington said in his winning essay.

A computer program randomly selected 200 semifinalists from all the eligible entries and a team from BioArts will narrow the field down to 10 finalists. A panel of experts choose Tarkr as the winner.

Symington and his German shepherd, Trakr, were among the first search and rescue teams to arrive at Ground Zero following 9/11.

Together the duo sifted through the rubble searching for both living and dead.

The team found the last human survivor under approximately 30 feet of unstable debris.

Trakr’s story was selected from a large pool of submissions from around the world, according to BioArts.

“We received many very touching submissions to our contest describing some truly amazing dogs,” said BioArts CEO Lou Hawthorne. “But Trakr’s story blew us away. His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt in our nation’s darkest hour – and we view the work of cloning him as a great honor.”

Symington said he was emotional when he found out the news that his dog would be cloned.

“Trakr means the world to me,” Symington said. “To know that part of him is going to live on is just beyond words. It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever received.”

Trakr, now 15, no longer has use of his back legs due to a degenerative neurological disorder, which experts say may be linked to exposure to toxic smoke at Ground Zero.

Within 30 days, BioArts will transport a sample of Trakr’s DNA to the South Korean lab of their partner, the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

Trakr’s clone could be in Symington’s arms before the end of the year, BioArts said.

“I can’t imagine the joy I’ll feel on that day,” Symington said. “If the clone has Trakr’s abilities, then of course we’ll put him into service as a search and rescue dog – and I’ll dust off my gear as well.”

BioArts International has been granted the sole, worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species by Start Licensing, Inc. and applies to the SCNT cloning patents developed at the Roslin Institute for Dolly the sheep, the first successfully cloned adult mammal.

For more information on the Best Friends Again auction or the Golden Clone Giveaway go to www.bestfriendsagain.com. For more information on BioArts International, go to www.bioarts.com.

BioArts International is also holding an auction of five dog cloning slots from July 5th through 9th, sponsored the Golden Clone Giveaway with the goal of identifying the world’s most “clone-worthy” dog and replicating it at no cost to its owner.