Somebody came up with the idea of putting together a kit that would allow budding neurologists to implant electrodes into a cockroach and then control its movements with a smartphone.
According to Backyard Brain’s website, The RoboRoach circuit is not a toy, but a tool for studying neural circuits and allows for students to make discoveries about electrical micro-stimulation.
PeTA, taking a break from killing dogs and cats, expressed their outrage:
PETA counsel Jerrod Goodman claims it promotes the practice of veterinary medicine without a license by altering an animal from its normal condition.
“Cockroaches are intelligent animals, they have learning and memory capacities,” Goodman said, adding that they have sophisticated social lives with each other and they can feel pain.
Oh, yes, of course cockroaches have sophisticated social lives and are intelligent. Never mind that the PeTA nuts say the same thing about every animal species except humans.