As another commenter ("1-6") said, cloning cute animals is how you get the public's support. The market isn't going to support the costs of developing cloning

As another commenter ("1-6") said, cloning cute animals is how you get the public's support. The market isn't going to support the costs of developing cloning tech to save endangered species and government grants aren't big enough either. But if you market the tech to rich people who want clones of their pets, you can actually develop it and then, once you have it, modifying it to save endangered species, even ones that aren't cute, gets much easier and cheaper.