INTERVIEW ▶▶▶ Prof Michael T. Mendl
Integrating computer vision with pig welfare
Professor Michael T. Mendl has been interested in animals and animal behaviour since he was a child. Now he is a professor at Bristol Veterinary School in the UK and has delved into the question of how computer vision can help identify pig behaviour.
BY TREENA HEIN, CORRESPONDENT D
uring another year of his cutting-edge research, Prof Michael T. Mendl will present a talk at the 2022 edi- tion of the International Pig Veterinary Society (IPVS) congress in Rio de Janeiro in June. He will discuss the
challenges of attempting to measure animal affective states and welfare under field conditions, with a specific focus on the de- velopment of computer vision methods for assessing startle and freeze behaviour in domestic pigs. Prof Mendl reflects on his research so far, how animal welfare has changed, and what’s ahead in his chosen field.
What attracted you to the field of animal welfare? Was it in childhood or later on? Prof Michael Mendl: “I can remember being interested in animals and animal behaviour from a very young age. When I went to the University of Cambridge to study natural sciences, I was surprised to find that people actually did scientific research into animal behaviour, so I ended up selecting courses in the area and was lucky enough to enrol for a PhD with Professor Patrick Bateson at Cambridge University, studying behavioural development. “Following this, I moved to Groningen University in the Nether- lands to continue fundamental studies of behavioural develop- ment. During my time there, my partner, Dr Liz Paul, and I had many discussions about the direction and potential applications of animal behaviour research, including how it might benefit animals themselves. This made me switch tack to apply for posi- tions that used animal behaviour in the context of animal welfare. Very conveniently, a postdoc studying the behaviour and welfare of domestic pigs came up with Professor Donald Broom back in
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Cambridge, and I was appointed to that and started research in animal welfare.”
How has the field of farm animal welfare changed in your view since you started studying it? “I think many of the broad challenges of animal welfare research are still similar to when I joined the field. How can one measure animal welfare scientifically, and what is animal welfare exactly? How do different ways of keeping animals influence their welfare? How can housing and husbandry be altered to improve animal welfare? And so on. “However, there have been notable changes in the last decade or two, including an increased focus on animal emotional (affective) states as key determinants of welfare. To many, though not all, welfare is all about ensuring that captive animals are kept in ways which enhance positive affective states and minimise negative ones. This brings with it the challenges of how to assess these mental states scientifically and whether and how we might infer the conscious experiences of other animals.”
What are some of the other changes in the field? “There have been big advances in trying to identify the most relevant welfare problems and implement the findings of animal welfare research by working more closely with farmers and other stakeholders and bringing social science methods to bear on the issues. “And recently, there has been growing interest in the use of au- tomation and precision-livestock farming methods to monitor and detect welfare problems. Progress in this latter exciting area needs to proceed mindful of the importance of maintaining human contact with our managed animals.
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