Animal rights activists have denounced the parent company of online retailer HKTVmall for conducting animal experiments on how long severed heads or limbs can stay alive after being severed from their bodies.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said Wednesday at an open house paper Ricky Wong, vice chairman and group CEO of Hong Kong Technology Venture Company (HKTV), that such experiments should be stopped and banned forever.
PETA president Jason Baker said in his letter: “In addition to being cruel, this research is purely exploratory, with highly speculative benefits.”
HKTV revealed the controversial science project in its latest annual run REPORT on Monday, saying it had conducted 38 experiments over the past four years in which “limbs or heads of animals were separated from their bodies”.
The experiments, part of an ongoing “Life Science Project,” aim to develop devices to maintain the “viability of severed body organs,” according to the company.
HKTV reported that the animal’s limbs remained viable for about 46 hours, while the heads survived for approximately seven hours, which its research team claimed was a world first.
“If the technologies we are developing prove successful, they could have applications in organ transplantation and potentially in extending the human lifespan,” according to the 2025 annual report.
“However, at this time, we are unable to accurately predict the project’s success rate or financial returns, nor can we reliably predict its long-term development.”
“No significant progress”
Citing research from 2008 to 2015, PETA’s Baker said: “Studies examining spinal cord injury experiments on animals show that decades of such work have not led to significant progress in reviving spinal neurons, due to fundamental differences between species.”
He also noted that several prominent US agencies had moved away from animal testing in recent years, while “human-relevant technologies”, such as non-invasive human imaging, have been developed to improve human health.
In an email response to HKFP on Wednesday, HKTV said its Life Science Project “does not aim to cause unnecessary harm to animals, with the objective of improving the quality of life for the elderly by contributing to advances in organ preservation, limb transplantation and blood regeneration”.
The company said the experiments used pigs and sheep, calling them “commonly used species” in organ transplant research.
Anesthetics were used during the experiments and the procedures were in accordance with “regulations regarding the ethics of laboratory animals (issued) by the Government”, HKTV added.
The research team is led by professionals such as “neurosurgeons, neurologists, veterinarians, university professors, anesthesiologists and research specialists,” the company said, without naming the team members.
The company also said the research team had explored “alternative experimental methods” but that efforts had been unsuccessful to date and that it would continue with the project.
HKTV reported a net loss of HK$149.6 million in 2025. As of 2021, the company has invested HK$44.5 million in the Life Science Project, with future investments expected to reach HK$50 million per year in the near future. according to in the annual report.
