I'm not buying the idea that the animals somehow benefit from this. I'm not necessarily against animal testing either. But it's one thing to test on animals to develop lifesaving cures and another thing entirely sure to experiment with brain implants with the potential to take away a living creature's free will. Or the ability to intrude on thought. The whole thing is pretty gross.
It's great that this tech could help paralyzed people and amputees, but is it worth the cost?
To the paralyzed and the amputees, absolutely. The faster the advancement happens, the sooner animals models can be deprecated. Nobody wants to use animal models, they are a necessary evil.
Edit: This is a moot point if it turns out we can repair the damage from paralysis and amputation using bioengineering.
It's great that this tech could help paralyzed people and amputees, but is it worth the cost?