Higher Animal Welfare Standards Research Articles

The Importance of Animal Welfare and Country of Origin in Consumer Preferences: A Cross-National Study

Livestock husbandry systems are controversially discussed in society, politics and science. Since exporting countries such as Germany, the Netherlands or Denmark produce pork under higher animal welfare standards, the question arises if it will be competitive on the international market. We used a factor and cluster analysis to identify consumer segments in Japan, South Korea, Italy and Poland and to determine the instruments necessary to make animal welfare more popular. Each study country revealed three consumer groups: One group is interested in animal welfare and meat quality attributes but prefers domestically produced pork. Another group is price sensitive and without expectations. Finally, a third group is interested in animal welfare and accepts imported products. To address consumers in this group, informational campaigns and target market-oriented strategies are necessary.

The South Korean Perspective on German Animal Welfare Certified Pork

Industry stakeholder requests for improved animal welfare practices in German meat production have steadily increased in recent years. A transformation of German animal husbandry systems would almost certainly result in higher production costs. Against this background, producers and the meat industry are concerned about losing their international competitiveness while implementing improved animal welfare practices. As South Korea is an established trading partner for Germany, the objective of this explorative study is to assess South Korean meat market trends with a special focus on meat quality and animal welfare in order to evaluate export chances for German pork produced under higher animal welfare standards. Using a triangulation, the results of semi-structured interviews (n=15) with South Korean pork supply chain stakeholders are combined with the results of an online survey of South Korean consumers (n=723). Results indicate that the market potential for German meat produced under higher animal standards is still low in South Korea. Stakeholders associate improved husbandry conditions with healthier animals, benefits to human health and rank animal welfare as a key element of sustainability. However, due to consumers’ lack of knowledge and their price sensitivity, animal welfare is neither a unique selling point, nor linked to meat quality.

Quality Management and Animal Welfare as Culture of Care for Animal Experiments under Biosafety Level-3, taking COVID-19 as a Practical Example

Abstract Since the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic, a tremendous amount of work has been done by scientists to understand the pathogenesis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). Several animal models have been reported to be useful for the development and testing of vaccines, antivirals, or therapeutics. These in vivo experiments have to be performed at high containment biosafety level (BSL)-3. Thus, an appropriate biosafety, facility and data management as well as high standard of animal welfare, thorough study design, and staff training combined with an overall research transparency and open communication need to be implemented to achieve high quality reproducible research. Such an approach combined with the well-known 3R principle (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) and the 3S principle (Good Science, Good Sense, and Good Sensibilities) can contribute to culture of care in scientific research. The perspective reviews the key points of optimized biosafety, data, quality and animal welfare management in high risk biosafety-settings to conduct animal experiments with infectious pathogens in the context of a culture of care.

To trust or not to trust? Trust landscape of organic animal husbandry: Mapping consumer attitudes and information demands in Germany

A mainly positive attitude of consumers towards organic animal husbandry with its higher keeping standards compared to the legal regulations is evident. However, less is known about consumers’ detailed expectations of organic husbandry and in particular their attitude and trust along the value chain of organic animal products. Which consumers trust the most, and how do they want to be informed about organic animal husbandry? Where along the chain are trust deficits that should be addressed in the future to support sustainable food consumption with high animal welfare standards? To answer these important questions a survey was conducted among 729 German meat consumers. Using a cluster analysis, various consumer groups were identified based on their trust levels. Further, these groups were characterized regarding their general attitude, their information behavior, their evaluation of current media reporting, and their preferred way to be informed (emotional/rational) about organic animal products. The results revealed three clusters that clearly differ in their trust level of organic husbandry. Respondents assigned to the first cluster are committed organic consumers with high trust and the most positive attitude. The second cluster, combines respondents who are generally open to organic meat consumption and showing the second highest trust level and positive attitude towards organic. They show a slight favor for a more rational presentation of information. The third cluster is the smallest and can be described as the skeptics with a low interest in organic. The results indicate a general moderate to high trust level along the value chain of organic animal products, with the highest trust in organic retailers and farmers and the least trust in processing and conventional retailers. These are important insights for the organic sector in order to improve consumer trust and therewith increase the market share of organic meat products.

Dolphin-WET-Development of a Welfare Evaluation Tool for Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under Human Care.

Ensuring high standards of animal welfare is not only an ethical duty for zoos and aquariums, but it is also essential to achieve their conservation, education, and research goals. While for some species, animal welfare assessment frameworks are already in place, little has been done for marine animals under human care. Responding to this demand, the welfare committee of the European Association for Aquatic Mammals (EAAM) set up a group of experts on welfare science, cetacean biology, and zoo animal medicine across Europe. Their objective was to develop a comprehensive tool to evaluate the welfare of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), named Dolphin-WET. The tool encompasses 49 indicators that were either validated through peer review or management-based expertise. The first of its kind, the Dolphin-WET is a species-specific welfare assessment tool that provides a holistic approach to evaluating dolphin welfare. Inspired by Mellor's Five Domains Model and the Welfare Quality®, its hierarchical structure allows for detailed assessments from overall welfare down to specific indicators. Through combining 37 animal-based and 12 resource-based indicators that are evaluated based on a two- or three-level scoring, the protocol offers a detailed evaluation of individual dolphins. This approach allows for regular internal monitoring and targeted welfare management, enabling caretakers to address specific welfare concerns effectively.

Mouse and Rat Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Anesthesia and analgesia play pivotal roles in ethically and humanely using animal models in research, especially concerning mice and rats. These rodent species, extensively utilized in scientific investigations due to their genetic resemblance to humans, serve as invaluable tools for studying diseases and testing treatments. Proper anesthesia and analgesia not only prioritize animal welfare but also heighten experimental validity by minimizing stress-induced physiological responses. Recent years have seen remarkable advancements in anesthesia for mice and rats. The focus has shifted away from the 'one size fits all' toward tailoring anesthesia protocols, considering factors like age, strain, and the nature of the experimental procedure. The use of inhalation agents such as isoflurane and sevoflurane is often preferred due to their rapid induction and recovery characteristics, allowing precise control over anesthesia depth. However, refinements in injectable anesthetic agents also provide researchers the flexibility to select suitable agents based on study requirements. Additionally, progress in analgesic techniques has led to effective pain management strategies for these rodents. Common analgesics such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, and local anesthetics are administered to alleviate pain and discomfort. However, standard practice also involves continuous monitoring of animals' behavior and physiological parameters, ensuring timely adjustments in analgesic regimens for optimal pain relief without compromising experimental outcomes. By integrating tailored anesthesia and analgesia protocols into the experimental design, researchers uphold high animal welfare standards while obtaining reliable scientific data. This contributes significantly to advancing medical knowledge and therapeutic interventions with reproducible results. Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Injectable anesthesia for mouse and rat Basic Protocol 2: Inhalant anesthesia using isoflurane for mouse and rat Basic Protocol 3: Analgesia for mice and rats.

VETERINARY, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF CATTLE WELFARE: A REVIEW

The paper presents a review of the literature on cattle welfare. The objective of this review is to outline the veterinary, economic, and social aspects of cattle welfare and highlight the current problems, global trends, and solutions. The global major scientific reference databases (Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Scopus) were reviewed. The review brought the following findings: a change in scientific and practical approaches to the understanding and assessment of the welfare of productive animals that requires not only health maintenance, stress prevention, or the ability of animals to express natural behavior. Animal welfare gains more anthropometric traits, including such concepts as 'pleasure' or 'happiness'. The concept of 'positive welfare' has become a more popular trend in scientific research on animal welfare. The review identified positive trends of possible modification of production systems, to make them more diverse and animal welfare friendly. The research found livestock products consumers growing concerned about animal welfare and housing conditions. The concept of welfare is more commercialized, which encourages livestock producers to adhere to ethical production standards. However, the demand of consumers to meet high standards of animal welfare does not have sufficient economic leverage. Only a few are willing to pay more for the better welfare of the animals or to refuse to consume animal products from production systems with poor welfare conditions. This review was intended to draw the attention of scientists, farmers, and consumers to the problems of the humane treatment of productive animals. And to assist stakeholders in finding their place in the process of creating better conditions for animals that are used for food, helping people with their existence or with their lives.

Willingness to Pay a Higher Price for Pork Obtained Using Animal-Friendly Raising Techniques: A Consumers' Opinion Survey.

In Italy, the consumption of pork meat is increasing, despite consumers' attitudes being addressed toward a greater sensitivity about animal welfare and its link with safe food. Considering the relatively high animal welfare standards and the divergence in public interest in farm animal welfare and ethical issues, the objective of this study-in continuation of our previous paper relating to consumer behavior and preferences in welfare-friendly pork breeding-was to investigate habits of pork consumers regarding pig welfare, principally evaluating their willingness to pay (WTP) a higher price for pork obtained using raising techniques with an approach based on animal welfare. An ad hoc questionnaire-based survey was submitted to consumers (n = 404) in Messina province, Italy. Results suggest that 47% of consumers were willing to pay an additional price for pork from farms that apply specific animal welfare standards. Positive correlations were between WTP and farming techniques (p = 0.001), organic farming methods (p = 0.001), and farms in which animal welfare is taken care of and guaranteed (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that consumers intend to pay a higher price for pork, like other animal products obtained using animal-friendly raising techniques. The sensitivity to the animal welfare of a single human being may influence consumers' attitudes toward pork consumption.

Environmental Impacts of High-Quality Brazilian Beef Production: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Premium and Super-Premium Beef.

When individual purchasing power increases in society, there is a trend toward a quantitative and qualitative increase in the consumption of products. Considering the magnitude of beef production in Brazil, environmental impacts are important factors for the domestic and international markets. This study assessed a Brazilian feedlot system characterized by high animal welfare standards that produces high-quality beef that is more marbled than that produced in grass-fed systems. We assessed the environmental impacts and compared premium and super-premium beef produced in a feedlot system using a partial Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Data were collected directly on the property analyzed, considering environmental inputs and outputs and economic factors associated with the production stages of each line (premium versus super-premium). The results show that high-quality beef has, beyond a greater financial cost, an environmental cost, with the super-premium line producing a 286% higher carbon footprint, 297% more eutrophication, and three times higher acidification potential and land use than the premium line. The results of the environmental impacts agree with the results of production costs, reflecting a 282.82% higher production cost in super-premium than in premium animals. Footprints of 5.0323 kg, 4.7746 kg, and 8.8858 kg CO2 eq./kg live weight gain at the feedlot were found in the three lines.

47 Navigating the Biotechnology Landscape in Animal Agriculture: Consumer and Producer Acceptance of Gene Editing to Improve Farm Animal Welfare

Abstract Consumer demand for production process traits in food and agricultural products is rapidly increasing. Recent legal measures reflect the demand for high animal welfare standards. At the same time, consumers are wary of biotechnology applications in food and agriculture, with calls for natural or organic production across the industry. However, when biotechnologies are applied for the benefit of the consumer or address a consumer concern, they become more acceptable. Producers, however, may be hesitant to adopt biotechnologies, given concerns about market acceptance. This presentation will explore the economic foundations, challenges, and opportunities for consumer and producer acceptance of biotechnology applications in animal welfare, especially gene editing techniques. Using the pork and diary industries as case studies, this talk will discuss the emerging opportunities for future improvements through gene editing. Understanding the economic foundations of biotechnology used to improve animal welfare aids agricultural producers, scientists, and policymakers to make optimal decisions regarding how these important aspects of animal agriculture progress.

How the EU animal welfare legislation can tackle AMR – a One Health perspective

Abstract The development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is linked to the imprudent use of antimicrobials and is fuelled by industrial farming, accounting for 70% of antimicrobial use. Tackling AMR requires a One Health approach that addresses the root causes of high antimicrobials use in intensive farming and generates co-benefits for human, animal and environmental health. On intensive farms animals are mostly of high-yield breeds and are exposed to stressors, which leads to immunosuppression, increasing susceptibility to infections that need antimicrobial therapy. To combat AMR the EU Commission adopted legislation prohibiting the use of antimicrobials to compensate for poor husbandry and management. However, there is a gap in policy regarding animal welfare improvements necessary to reduce the need for antimicrobials. We assess how the EU animal welfare legislation, under revision, can contribute to filling this gap by providing the regulatory framework for improvements needed to reduce antimicrobial use. Methods include literature review and expert interviews in an approach that integrates knowledge across the human-animal-environmental sectors. Improvements in husbandry and management (lower stocking density, outdoor access, genetic diversity, etc.) positively impact animal health and welfare, consequently reducing susceptibility to infections and antimicrobial use. By prescribing these improvements the revised animal welfare legislation can have a synergistic effect with the Veterinary Products Regulation, in line with the Farm to Fork strategy, and provide the regulatory framework for higher animal welfare standards that reduce antimicrobial use. The positive correlation between higher animal welfare and the reduced need for antimicrobials demonstrates the urgency of improving welfare in farming as a key strategy to limit AMR. It builds the case for an ambitious revision of the EU animal welfare legislation to protect animal and human health in line with One Health. Key messages • The revised EU animal welfare legislation can become a relevant policy in tackling AMR by providing the regulatory framework for high animal welfare standards neded to reduce antimicrobials in farming. • Tackling AMR requires a One Health approach addressing the root causes of high antimicrobial use in intensive farming: the poor welfare of animals, which increases their susceptibility to infections.

Milking Machine Settings and Liner Design Are Important to Improve Milking Efficiency and Lactating Animal Welfare—Technical Note

The purpose of milking machines is to harvest milk at optimal quality and speed, while maintaining animal comfort and teat defense mechanisms against invading mastitis pathogens. Therefore, the milking machine is a very important piece of equipment on dairy farms to maintain a long healthy lactation by following the physiological conditions of the udder. The mechanical forces during long-term machine milking processes lead to changes in the teat tissue. This effect is related to the degree of adaptation of the milking machines to the physiological requirements of the individual udder anatomy and the physiological conditions of the lactating animals. If both, milking machine settings and liner design are not suitable for all teats and animals on the farm, some animals will not be fully milked, the teat condition will deteriorate over time and in the end, they may suffer from mastitis. Therefore, maintaining healthy udders and teats during milking is a central key component of an effective milking machine to produce good milk yield with higher quality by preventing mastitis and maintaining animal health and welfare. On large and thick teats, conventional liners often fit too tight, causing a massive mechanical stress load on the tissue. On small teats, however, they often do not adhere sufficiently close to the teat which can cause a considerable air admission and hence liner slips. The new liners, “Stimulor® StressLess” (Siliconform, Türkheim, Germany), have a wave-like lip construction and adapt well to the different teat sizes in a herd, thus ensuring consistent milking of lactating animals. A proper milking machine accommodates all teat sizes and forms, has a low vacuum to effectively open the teat and to stimulate physiological milk release and letdown. In addition, the right pulsation rate will maintain a stable vacuum on the teat area during milking. In conclusion, an ideal milking machine adapts to the morphological, anatomical, and physiological characteristics of the udder and teats of the lactating animals and it should achieve a physiologically ideal milking process that meets high animal welfare standards and increases milk production with a high quality standard.

A Practical Approach to Providing Environmental Enrichment to Pigs and Broiler Chickens Housed in Intensive Systems.

In Europe, regulations contain guidance to maintain high standards of animal welfare. In many parts of the world, large buyers for supermarkets or restaurants are the main enforcers of basic animal welfare standards. They can have considerable influence on improving standards on large commercial farms. Research clearly shows that straw is one of the most effective environmental enrichment for pigs. On some large farms, there are concerns that straw will either clog waste management systems or bring in disease. This paper contains a review of both scientific research and practical experience with enrichment devices that are easy to implement. Pigs prefer enrichment objects that they can chew up and deform. Broiler chickens prefer to climb up on objects, hide under them or peck them. It is always essential to uphold basic welfare standards such as animal cleanliness and low levels of lameness (difficulty walking). It is also important to reduce lesions, and maintain body conditions of breeding animals. An environment enrichment device is never a substitute for poorly managed facilities. It should enhance animal welfare on well-managed farms.

The impact of information about animal husbandry systems on consumers’ choice of meat products in a virtual supermarket

Farm animal welfare has become a frequently discussed issue. However, the consumption of animal-friendly products remains a small part of total meat consumption. This study investigated whether providing consumers with more detailed information about animal husbandry systems could influence their product choices at a virtual supermarket. Participants (N = 124) were randomly assigned to one of three experiment conditions, which differed in terms of the information provided: 1) only animal-welfare label (control condition), 2) animal-welfare label and a positive video describing an organic animal husbandry system (AHS) (positive video condition), and 3) animal-welfare label, a positive video, and a negative video describing a conventional AHS (positive & negative video condition). In all conditions, participants needed to select an ingredient for a curry dish from three presented products, i.e., a conventional chicken breast, an organic chicken breast, and a plant-based meat alternative that looks like chicken meat. The results indicated that participants’ product choices were not significantly different between the three conditions. As shown by eye-tracking data, participants paid little attention to the animal-welfare-related information. Price was the most important information for participants’ purchasing choices. Also, participants’ meat-eating justification (MEJ) strategies were negatively correlated with their choice of products produced with higher animal-welfare standards. These results illustrate that providing more information about animal-welfare or the conditions under which animals are farmed alone is not enough to induce significant changes of consumers’ meat shopping behavior. The price of the products and participants’ MEJ strategies play important roles in consumers’ purchase decisions.

Welfare impacts associated with using aversive geofencing devices on captive Asian elephants

Animal-borne aversive geofencing devices (AGDs, or satellite-linked shock collars) are commercially available and used on livestock to restrict their movement within a virtual boundary. This technology has potential application as a human-wildlife conflict mitigation tool, where problem animals might be conditioned to avoid human-dominated habitats by associating an audio warning with a subsequent electric shock, which is delivered if the audio warning is ignored. Ensuring that high standards of animal welfare are maintained when implementing such tools is important for acquiring manager and community acceptance of such approaches. We conducted two pilot experiments with eight captive Asian elephants using mild electric shocks from a modified dog-training collar fitted around the neck, as part of an ongoing effort to develop AGDs suitable for mitigating human-elephant conflict. As part of these experiments, we assessed elephants' behavioural and physiological stress before, during and after the experiments. During the experiments elephants wore collars for up to nine consecutive days and received a small number of electric shocks on 1–3 consecutive days. Bootstrapped principal component analysis showed that daily activity budgets of individual elephants on experiment days were not different from the pre-experiment days. Generalised linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) showed that anxiety/stress behaviours increased on the first day of acclimatising to the collar and on testing days (i.e. days they received shocks) of the first experiment, but not during the second experiment relative to pre-experiment days. Analysis of faecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) concentrations using GLMM showed that FCM concentrations were higher in samples collected ∼24 hrs and ∼48 hrs after testing days compared to baseline levels as expected given the lag time for excretion of cortisol metabolites. These elevated anxiety/stress behaviours and FCM concentrations returned to baseline levels shortly after the experiment. Therefore, we conclude that AGDs did not produce lasting behavioural or physiological stress effects in elephants during this short-term study but recommend further studies with a larger sample of elephants to confirm the transferability of these findings.

Harmonisation of education, training and continuing professional development for laboratory animal caretakers, technicians and technologists: Report of the FELASA-EFAT Working Group.

Competent, confident and caring laboratory animal caretakers, technicians and technologists (LAS staff) are vital for good animal welfare, high-quality science and a secure Culture of Care. This requires high-quality education, training, supervision and continuing professional development (CPD) of LAS staff. However, there is a lack of harmonisation regarding how this education and training is conducted among European countries, and nor are there recommendations adapted to Directive 2010/63/EU. Therefore, FELASA and EFAT established a working group with the task of establishing recommendations for education, training and CPD for LAS staff. The working group established five different levels (LAS staff levels 0-4), defining the required level of competence and attitude, as well as suggesting educational requirements for reaching each level. Defining these levels should help to ensure that appropriate educational and CPD activities are in place, and to enable employers and LAS staff to determine the level and career stage attained. Furthermore, proper assessment of competencies and effective CPD schemes for all relevant staff should be established. Regulators should support this by setting standards for competence assessment and ensuring that they are consistently applied. In addition, establishments should involve the LAS staff in defining and developing the Culture of Care. The Animal Welfare Body should be involved and have oversight of education, training and CPD. These recommendations will contribute to harmonisation and increased quality of education, training and CPD, as well as provide clearer career pathways for LAS staff, helping to ensure high standards of animal welfare and science.

Application of the Five Domains model to food chain management of animal welfare: opportunities and constraints

For businesses involved in animal production, ensuring high animal welfare standards has become the cornerstone of corporate social responsibility practices. Since animal welfare cannot be verified by consumers at the point of purchase, industry-led audits provide important assurance that animals used to produce food lived an acceptable quality of life and experienced a humane death. The Five Freedoms offer a simple tool to conceptualize the complex, multi-dimensional concept of animal welfare, and they have been widely adopted as a basic operational framework for compliance. However, the Five Freedoms are problematic in that they focus on the absence of negative welfare states, underemphasize the importance of positive experiences, are absolute, and represent a (mostly unattainable) ideal. The Five Domains model represents inter-related aspects of an animal’s welfare state, with four physical/functional domains used to infer likely mental experiences in the fifth domain. This model allows for consideration of both positive and negative affective experiences, recognizes degrees of welfare compromise, acknowledges that animals cannot be free from all negative experiences (and that indeed, some are essential for survival). Thus, the model better reflects current scientific understanding of animal welfare and – that ultimately, we are interested in how animals experience their lives. Nevertheless, caution is needed when inferring mental states, which can never be directly observed or measured, and hence the ultimate outcomes of the model’s application should be qualitative. Operationalization of the Five Domains offers several opportunities to improve the breadth and quality of welfare audits for production animals. The model can incorporate both resource/management- based and animal-based measures of welfare; the former reflect risks to animals’ welfare while the latter often provide direct information on the animal’s welfare state at the time of assessment. Existing welfare indicators may be linked to relevant mental states and evaluated accordingly, and new metrics may be scientifically identified. Importantly, the Five Domains structure demands scrutiny of the affective state consequences to animals of housing, handling, and husbandry procedures, and could improve the effectiveness of animal welfare training for auditors and stockpersons. Adoption of the Five Domains framework could facilitate improved communication about animal welfare in the food chain with customers and consumers.

A decadal outlook for global aquaculture

A decadal outlook for global aquaculture

The Prominent Role of Hematopoietic Peptidyl Arginine Deiminase 4 in Arthritis: Collagen- and Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor-Induced Arthritis Model in C57BL/6 Mice.

Genome-wide association studies have connected PADI4, encoding peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4), with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). PAD4 promotes neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation. This study was undertaken to investigate the origin of PAD4 and the importance of NET formation in a C57BL/6 mouse model of arthritis. To permit the effective use of C57BL/6 mice in the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model, we introduced the administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for 4 consecutive days in conjunction with the booster immunization on day 21. Mice with global Padi4 deficiency (Padi4-/- ) and mice with hematopoietic lineage-specific Padi4 deficiency (Padi4Vav1Cre/+ ) were evaluated in the model. G-CSF significantly increased the incidence and severity of CIA. G-CSF-treated mice showed elevated citrullinated histone H3 (Cit-H3) levels in plasma, while vehicle-treated mice did not. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed deposition of Cit-H3 in synovial tissue in G-CSF-treated mice. Padi4-/- mice developed less severe arthritis and had lower levels of serum interleukin-6 and plasma Cit-H3, lower levels of Cit-H4 in synovial tissue, and less bone erosion on micro-computed tomography than Padi4+/+ mice in the G-CSF-modified CIA model. Similarly, Padi4Vav1Cre/+ mice developed less severe arthritis, compared with Padi4fl/fl mice, and presented the same phenotype as Padi4-/- mice. We succeeded in developing an arthritis model suitable for use in C57BL/6 mice that is fully compliant with high animal welfare standards. We observed a >90% incidence of arthritis in male mice and detectable NET markers. This model, with some features consistent with human RA, demonstrates that hematopoietic PAD4 is an important contributor to arthritis development and may prove useful in future RA research.

Evaluating Cognitive Enrichment for Zoo-Housed Gorillas Using Facial Recognition.

The use of computer technology within zoos is becoming increasingly popular to help achieve high animal welfare standards. However, despite its various positive applications to wildlife in recent years, there has been little uptake of machine learning in zoo animal care. In this paper, we describe how a facial recognition system, developed using machine learning, was embedded within a cognitive enrichment device (a vertical, modular finger maze) for a troop of seven Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Bristol Zoo Gardens, UK. We explored whether machine learning could automatically identify individual gorillas through facial recognition, and automate the collection of device-use data including the order, frequency and duration of use by the troop. Concurrent traditional video recording and behavioral coding by eye was undertaken for comparison. The facial recognition system was very effective at identifying individual gorillas (97% mean average precision) and could automate specific downstream tasks (for example, duration of engagement). However, its development was a heavy investment, requiring specialized hardware and interdisciplinary expertise. Therefore, we suggest a system like this is only appropriate for long-term projects. Additionally, researcher input was still required to visually identify which maze modules were being used by gorillas and how. This highlights the need for additional technology, such as infrared sensors, to fully automate cognitive enrichment evaluation. To end, we describe a future system that combines machine learning and sensor technology which could automate the collection of data in real-time for use by researchers and animal care staff.