A Canadian psychology professor, in order to study 'how pets promote mental health', has made a hen her emotional support animal, letting the chicken accompany her in daily life.
According to the New York Post, Sonia Kong is a psychology professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. She has long studied the impact of human-pet relationships on adolescent development, and recently collaborated with Tracy Wong, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to explore how pets influence social and emotional development in adolescents under different cultural backgrounds.
For her research, Sonia adopted a hen herself and named it 'Saturday'. She finds the chicken to be very smart, almost able to understand her emotions. 'When I'm sad, she just quietly lies there staring at me, as if thinking: "Why are you crying?" That kind of companionship moves me deeply.' In her eyes, 'Saturday' is not just poultry, but a partner with an emotional bond.
She says that 'Saturday' can not only sense her emotions, but will also quietly snuggle up to her when she's feeling down, making her feel comforted and touched. She and her research team hope that, through these experiences, they can understand whether companion animals help adolescents build a sense of security, empathy, and psychological resilience.
However, Sonia's family remains half-skeptical about this 'emotional support chicken'. Sometimes her parents joke and ask whether she might accidentally end up cooking 'Saturday'. But Sonia emphasizes that 'Saturday' is her pet, not food, and she would never cook it as an ingredient.
Emotional support animals are pets that provide comfort, companionship, and support to people with mental health issues, emotional disorders, or disabilities. These animals don't have to be dogs or cats; any animal that can provide a soothing effect can play this role. Sonia also uses her own experience to prove that the emotional bond between people and animals is not limited by species; sometimes the most unexpected animals can provide the purest support.