The probe focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers treat and test some animals, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation.
In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company's animal-testing operations.
But current and former Neuralink employees said the number of animal deaths is higher than it needs to be for reasons related to Mr Musk's demands to speed up research. The three people attributed the mistakes to a lack of preparation by a testing staff working in a pressure-cooker environment. "We could enable people to use their hands and walk again in daily life," he wrote to staff at 6:37am on February 8.
Five people who've worked on Neuralink's animal experiments told Reuters they had raised concerns internally. The problems with Neuralink's testing have raised questions internally about the quality of the resulting data, three current or former employees said. Such problems could potentially delay the company's bid to start human trials, which Mr Musk has said the company wants to do within the next six months.
Company leaders have boasted internally of building a "Monkey Disneyland" in the company's Austin, Texas facility where lab animals can roam, a former employee said. The first complaints about the company's testing involved its initial partnership with University of California, Davis, to conduct the experiments.
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