
The Animal Turn
Animals are increasingly at the forefront of research questions – Not as shadows to human stories, or as beings we want to understand biologically, or for purely our benefit – but as beings who have histories, stories, and geographies of their own. Each season is set around themes with each episode unpacking a particular animal turn concept and its significance therein. Join Claudia Hirtenfelder as she delves into some of the most important ideas emerging out of this recent turn in scholarship, thinking, and being.
Latest episodes

Apr 28, 2025 • 59min
Bonus: Sensory Pollution with Brett Seymoure and Jennifer Phillips
In this crossover episode from The Deal With Animals Podcast, Marika S. Bell talks to two experts about the impacts of sensory pollution on animals. Sensory pollution from artificial light and noise has profound effects on wildlife behavior, reproduction, and survival. Brett Seymour and Jennifer Phillips share insights about how everyday choices impact everything from insect flight patterns to bird nesting success.Date Released: 7 May 2024Dr. Jennifer Phillips is an assistant professor at Washington State University. Jenny's research focuses on animal behavior communication and the effects of human activity on wildlife, especially passerine birds, specifically, she's interested in how functional traits are affected by landscapes and sensory pollution, and whether changes in these traits lead to population and community level ecological consequences.Dr. Brett Seymour,an associate professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, his research interests include how animals interact with their visual environment and how light pollution disrupts natural behaviors, physiology and ecosystem services in arthropods and their predators!The Deal With Animals Podcastis about the interactions and connections between humans and non-human animals. The mission of the show is to make research more accessible to the public while sharing the voices and lived experience of human connection with animals. The show is hosted by Marika S. Bell. Featured: The Darkness Manifesto by Johan EklöfWildscape by Nancy Lawson Thank you to Marika S. Bell for sharing this content with The Animal Turn Podcast. The Deal With AnimalsThe Deal With Animals Podcast is about the interactions and connections between humans and animals.A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Apr 14, 2025 • 51min
Bonus: Big Cat Trade with Vanessa Amoroso
The global big cat trade encompasses both legal and illegal networks, with South Africa standing as the world's largest exporter of big cats including both live animals and parts. Vanessa Amoroso from Four Paws International explains how captive breeding facilities create a "conveyor belt of cubs" that fuels tourism attractions while obscuring the darker reality of what happens to these animals. Together Claudia and Vanessa discuss how loopholes in CITES allows for the large-scale legal breeding and trade of big cats, which also has numerous slippages into the illegal trade of the animals and exacerbates their exploitation. Date Recorded: 5 August 2024 Vanessa Amoroso has been employed at FOUR PAWS / VIER PFOTEN International since September 2021 and has worked within the animal welfare sector for thirteen years. She holds a BSc in Environmental Biology and a PGCert in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law. Vanessa currently oversees the design and delivery of the commercial big cat trade campaign in South Africa and European trade of Tigers. She also heads up the wildlife trade component of the Pandemics and Animal Welfare campaign. Featured: Dethroned directed by Will Foster-GrundyHelp for Big Cats by Four PawsBig Cat Reporting Tool by Four PawsCITES – Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species. The Animal Turn is part of the iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, LinkedIn, Blue Sky, and Instagram Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work. This episode was edited and produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Feb 24, 2025 • 1h 39min
S7E10: Grad Review with Rashmi Singh Rana and Priyanshu Thapliyal
Rashmi Singh Rana and Priyanshu Thapliyal join Claudia on the show to discuss some of the key themes to emerge in Season 7, Animals and Multispecies Health. These include thinking beyond anthropocentric understandings of health; considering how geography and context shape health relations; and the importance of discourse in both imaginative and material impacts.Date Recorded: 29 January 2025 Priyanshu Thapliyal is a PhD Researcher based in the school of GeoSciences at University of Edinburgh. In his project, he is thinking with and for people and street dogs living in an Indian Himalayan village to explore the everyday ethics and politics of sharing life and space on a more-than-human planet. He has an interest in cultural geography, environmental anthropology, and multispecies studies. Connect with Priya via Twitter (@priathaplial). Rashmi Singh Rana is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Compassionate Conservation of the Transdisciplinary School, University of Technology Sydney. Her conservation research explores how the dynamic socio-ecological realities shape coexistence dynamics in the multispecies spaces of the Indian trans-Himalaya. Presently, her research interests lie in tracing the contemporary relationships between humans and dogs, and its influence on the future of safe multispecies cohabitation in agro-pastoral landscapes. Connect with her via Twitter (@RashmiSinghRana). Featured: Dogopolis by Chris Pearson Conservation Beyond Biopolitics by Krithika Srinivasan Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work. This episode was produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbiROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Feb 10, 2025 • 1h 19min
S7E9: Dogs’ Health with Jessica Pierce
In this discussion, Jessica Pierce, a prominent bioethicist recognized for her insightful work on animal ethics, dives into the intricate world of dogs’ health. She tackles end-of-life care and the ethical dilemmas surrounding euthanasia, enriched by personal anecdotes. Jessica also emphasizes the divergent health needs of pet versus street dogs and critiques harmful breeding practices. The conversation highlights the profound human-dog bond, advocating for a compassionate lens on canine care that merges practical insights with philosophical inquiry.

Feb 6, 2025 • 1h 26min
S7E8: Pavlov’s Dogs with Matthew Adams
Matthew Adams joins Claudia on the show to talk about the dogs who were used by Ivan Pavlov in his extensive laboratory operations in St Petersburg. They discuss the importance of psychology and psychological experimentation in debates about multispecies health, also pointing to the importance of art-based research that challenges anthropocentricism. Recorded: 10 September 2024. Matthew Adams is an academic in the School of Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Brighton, UK. He teaches classes in ecopsychology, the psychology of human-animal relations, posthumanities and creative methods. Mathew’s research challenges conventional perceptions of animal experimentation and considers the nature of scientific work. From 2022-2024, Mathew worked as an Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellow on a project entitled Pavlov and the kingdom of dogs: Storying experimental animal histories through arts-based research. Matthew’s most recent book is titled Anthropocene Psychology: Being Human in a More-Than-Human World. Featured: Pavlov and the kingdom of dogs by Matthew Adams Ecological Crisis, Sustainability and the Psychosocial Subject by Matthew Adams Anthropocene Psychology: Being Human in a More-than-human world by Matthew Adams Nature and Experience in the Culture of Delusion by David W. Kidner When Species Meet by Donna Harraway Nature in an Active Voice by Val Plumwood What’s in it for the animals? By Richard GormanThank you A.P.P.L.E for sponsoring this podcast; ROH Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for design work, Priyanshu Thapliyal for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for audio editing. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Jan 20, 2025 • 1h 17min
S7E7: Urban Health Histories with Heeral Chhabra
In this episode we delve into how urban health histories can help us to understand changing multispecies health. Heeral Chhabra tells us how the welfare of free-roaming dogs in India was caught up with the colonial history of the country and how rabies saw drastic changes in human-dog relations. Date Recorded: 27 September 2024. Heeral Chhabra is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with the Remaking One Health: Decolonial Approaches to Street Dogs and Rabies Prevention in India Project at University of Liverpool. She was awarded PhD from the University of Delhi (2022) for her thesis Animal ‘Welfare’, State Regulations and Questions of Cruelty c.1900-1940s which sought to understand animal-human relationships in colonial India through the prism of law. Heeral is also a Visiting Fellow at IASH, Edinburgh University and has previously been a Global History Fellow at International Institute of Social History. She has published widely on matters related to animals in Indian history. She is currently working on her manuscript The Barking Subjects of Empire: The History of Street Dog-Human relations in Colonial India, and also co-editing two books - Animals and South Asian History: Species, People and Environment; and Writing Global History from Global South. Featured: Animals and Colonial Indian Archives by Heeral ChhabraAnimals, Agency, and Class: Writing the History of Animals from Below by Jason HribalAnimals as Experiencing Entities: Theories and Historical Narratives edited by Michael J. Glover, Les MitchellThe biopolitics of animal being and welfare: dog control and care in the UK and India by Krithika SrinivasanAn analytical framework to understand the problematization of urban (historical) animals by Claudia HirtenfelderThank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Priyanshu Thapliyal for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. This episode was produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Jan 13, 2025 • 1h 46min
S7E6: Compassionate Conservation with Daniel Ramp
This episode dives into the principles of compassionate conservation, emphasizing the importance of recognizing individual lives and experiences in conservation efforts. Daniel Ramp outlines how traditional conservation often overlooks the welfare of specific animals, leading to harmful outcomes, and presents compelling arguments for integrating compassion into conservation policies and practices. Date Recorded: 1 November 2024. Daniel Ramp is a behavioural ecologist, welfare expert, and conservation biologist specializing in transdisciplinary approaches to coexistence and sustainability. He is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Compassionate Conservation at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he is an Associate Professor in the Transdisciplinary School. He leads the development of research, teaching, and public outreach in the centre, where the goal is to stimulate innovation, novel research, and conservation practices that promote multispecies flourishing. Dan conducts research on compassionate conservation, wild animal welfare, environmental ethics, and wildlife ecology, while also collaborating widely with other disciplines. Featured: Centre for Compassionate Conservation IUCN Red ListEcology. Whose conservation? By Georgina Mace.Preventing extinction in an age of species migration and planetary change by Erick Lundgren et al. Failing Forward: The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Conservation by Robert Fletcher.The elephant (head) in the room: A critical look at trophy hunting by Chelsea Batavia et al.Thank you to A.P.P.L.E for sponsoring this podcast and ROH Indies for sponsoring this season. Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Rashmi Singh Rana for the Animal Highlight. This episode was edited and produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Dec 23, 2024 • 1h 52min
S7E5: Marginalized Multispecies Collectives with Oswaldo Santos Baquero
Join us for a conversation with Oswaldo Santos Baquero about marginalized multispecies collectives. He explains the complexities of biological taxonomy and challenges traditional definitions of species to instead think about how collectives operate. By critically analyzing health practices through the lens of multispecies marginalization, Oswaldo challenges us to reconsider the economic interests that often overshadow the well-being of both animals and humans. Date Recorded: 28 August 2024. Oswaldo Santos Baquero is a professor in the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of São Paulo and in the Peripheries Research Group at the Institute of Advanced Studies. He coordinates the Multispecies Health Network (MUHE Network), dedicated to the (re)production of the good life (buen vivir) of marginalised multispecies collectives. He has a degree in veterinary medicine, a PhD in epidemiology, a post-doctorate in public health, and a specialisation in data science. He works on matters related to decolonisation, biopolitics, political ecology and science and technology studies. Featured: MUHE NetworkOn the Origin of Species by Charles DarwinStaying with the Trouble by Donna Harraway Meeting the Universe Halfway by Karen BaradWildlife Conservation Society Animal Rights/Human Rights by David NibertThank you to APPLE for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health Indies for sponsoring this season; and the Phoenix Zones Initiative for sponsoring this episode. Gordon Clarke or the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Priyanshu Thapliyal for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbPhoenix Zones Initiative An organization on a mission to change the policies and practices that drive the exploitation of vulDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Dec 3, 2024 • 1h 15min
S7E4: Behavioural Ecology with Anindita Bhadra
Anindita Bhadra joins Claudia on the show to explain what behavioural ecology is and how it has been applied to understanding the free-roaming dogs in India. They discuss the interconnections between domestication and evolution, the social organization of free roaming dogs, and dogs relationships with urban ecologies. Date Recorded: 16 August 2024. Anindita Bhadra is a behavioural biologist, working on free-ranging dogs in India. She founded The Dog Lab at the Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata in June 2009. She has written about dogs in leading journals such as PloS One, Animal Cognition, Ethology, Ecology and Evolution. Connect with Anindita Bhadra on X (@Abhadra7). Featured: We know that the wasps ‘know’ by Anindita Bhadra and Raghavendra GadagkarScavengers in the human-dominated landscape: an experimental study Sourabh Biswas et al. Ready, set, yellow! Color Preference of Indian Free-ranging Dogs Anamitra Roy et al. Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Rashmi Singh Rana for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. This episode was produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Nov 18, 2024 • 1h 33min
S7E3 - Species Story with Mariam Fraser Motamedi
In this episode Mariam Motamedi-Fraser joins us in the show to discuss ‘species story’ a concept she developed in her book Dog Politics. We discuss how the human-dog bond has been established and maintained through modern day practices and scientific discourses which have implications for how dogs can live. Date Recorded: 31 July 2024. Mariam Motamedi Fraser is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the interdisciplinary research group UCL Anthropocene, in the Department of Geography. Her research is located in the field of animal studies. She is particularly interested in the implications, for animals, of the concepts and theories that are deployed to ‘explain’ them in both science and non-science research. Mariam is the author of three monographs and two co-edited collections, and has published in a wide range of journals. Her most recent book, Dog Politics: Species Stories and the Animal Sciences (Manchester University Press, 2024), is a critical analysis of the idea that relationality-with-humans somehow constitutes dogs’ evolutionary destiny. The book is partly informed by her experience of volunteering at The Dog Hub, a dog training and behavioural centre in London. She is strongly committed to teaching animal studies, and to the transformative experience that learning about animals in a structured setting offers students.Featured: Dog Politics by Mariam Motamedi Fraser The War Against Animals by Dinesh Wadiwel Pets by Erica Fudge Animal Biographies by Éric Baratay Wild Justice by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce Do Fish Resist by Dinesh Wadiwel The Dog Hub Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Rashmi Singh Rana for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Remaking One Health (ROH) IndiesThis project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urbDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.