• Question: Are any animals harmed or made to feel uncomfortable in your experiments?

    Asked by anon-188504 to Pizza Ka Yee on 15 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-188489.
    • Photo: Pizza Ka Yee Chow

      Pizza Ka Yee Chow answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      Hello 455memp39 🙂

      I can firmly telling you the answer is NO. Long before starting this career, I already know that animals are the boss, not me. So in all my experiments with wild squirrels, squirrels participated the task voluntarily – they come and leave a task when they want (sometimes I have to wait for hours because they are still sleeping or busying with other things).

      In laboratory, if squirrels have decided to participate a task but stop doing anything in the middle of an experiment, then I will record the time the squirrels start stopping to do things and will use 10-15 minutes as a rule of thumb to stop the experiment (so that they can go back to the home). Across all experiments, squirrels are also allowed to access to water without limits. I also do not deprive their normal food (i.e. going to an experiment is to obtain extra treats). Finally, I will use their highly preferable food to encourage them to participate the task 🙂

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