Photo by Daniel Neucom Photography
In line with the philosophy espoused by one of the world’s first animal welfare scientists, Professor Marian Dawkins, we take an animal-centric approach to improving animal welfare by “asking the animal” directly about his or her mental state.
Animal Centric’s method of “asking the animal” involves teaching animal caregivers how to assess animal welfare objectively through the use of animal-based evidence (physical and behavioural) viewed within the assessment framework of the Five Domains Model, how to record and analyse trends in animal-based evidence over time, and how to conduct practical choice and motivation trials to determine animals’ needs and preferences. Armed with the ability to monitor welfare objectively and ask the animal various questions, animal caregivers can make enormous improvements to animal welfare over time.
Photo by Daniel Neucom Photography
I’m an animal welfare scientist, consultant, and science writer.
My goal in life is to empower people to shape a better world for animals.
I grew up on a small farm in Missouri, where I was constantly surrounded by cattle, horses, dogs, cats, deer, foxes, pheasants, and quail, and this is where my life-long fascination with animals began. I studied Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami, Florida, and I spent the first decade of my career as a researcher in animal science, starting out as a mosquito ecologist during my PhD (Aedes and Culex spp.), then looking at the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and with my last research position at The University of Queensland focusing on the neurophysiology of animal emotions (sheep, pigs, and cattle). During my later years as an academic researcher, I was drawn into the field of animal welfare science and took part in starting and running The Animal Welfare Collaborative (TAWC), a network of over 100 organisations collaborating to improve animal welfare. In those years that I spent managing relations across multiple animal-based industries, I came to know the practical challenges that many organisations face in improving animal welfare.
During my time as an animal welfare researcher, I noticed a gap in society between the concepts being discussed in the animal welfare scientific literature and those being practiced on the ground by people with animals. I wasn’t content to see good science stay stuck in scholarly journals — I wanted to see if I could help people apply it in the real world. So, in 2021 I decided to leave my university research position and start Animal Centric so that I could work shoulder to shoulder with animal caregivers in improving animal welfare.
I just love animal people, and I feel fortunate that through Animal Centric I’m able to get to know them and support their important work as much as possible. My first client was Sea World, Australia, and I was very much guided by their team as to what types of support they needed most to improve the welfare of the animals under their care. Many of the approaches that Animal Centric now uses were born and tested through this fruitful multi-year collaboration with the Sea World team, and they have subsequently been validated by animal caregivers at other client organisations, which is why I have confidence in their effectiveness.
In my experience, most organisations genuinely want to do the right thing by the animals under their care, but it’s often unclear where to start. That’s where my background in animal welfare science, my humble approach to working with people, and my skills in science communication all come into play, because I can translate high-level theories into tangible actions and plans that work within the unique context of each organisation. I’ve been fortunate to work with hundreds of incredible animal caregivers at zoos, aquariums, and farms. The ease with which they are able to improve animal welfare when they’re given the right tools never ceases to amaze me.
As for my personal views on animal welfare, the only thing I care about is what the animal thinks and feels, or the animal’s perspective. All of my efforts focus on trying to understand that perspective better in partnership with the people who work most closely with animals so that we can make incremental changes that will improve animals’ lives.
I published my first book in 2024, Cooperating Through Chaos: Why Humans (And Other Animals) Work Together, which I hope will inspire further public appreciation of how much we still have to learn from animals.
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Babington, S., Ding, L., Tilbrook, A. J., Maloney, S. K., Kho, E. A., Fernandes, J. N., & Blache, D. (2025). Identifying biomarkers of sheep welfare using a metabolic discrepancy model. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 13288.
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