Just to be clear - this hot take is completely wrong. The Animal Welfare Act has rules that proscribe that certain kinds of complaints around animal research in mammals other than rats and mice have to be investigated by the USDA. Animal rights groups are very active in trying to infiltrate research organizations in order to "discover" problems, and disgruntled employees also have these complaints as a lever.

To be clear - (1) animal researchers are not perfect people and make mistakes and need regulating, (2) I could never work for someone like Elon Musk - he vastly overstates the potential of current technology but also because he may have other ethical issues, (3) the feds may sometimes go after people because of vendettas including Musk. BUT, in this case, for someone who watches the space of "animal welfare problems", the Reuters piece seems very suspiciously like of a hit piece from PETA or another animal rights group (or them amplifying an internal Neuralink dispute).