The Animal Highlight

Claudia Hirtenfelder
  • 0.0 (0)
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Set around specific themes, The Animal Highlight offers glimpses into the wonderful and complex worlds of animals. This is a spinoff of The Animal Turn Podcast, a podcast that unpacks important concepts in animal studies. 

  1. S5E10: Heck Cattle - Where Nazi Eugenics Meets Modern Rewilding

    AUG 4

    S5E10: Heck Cattle - Where Nazi Eugenics Meets Modern Rewilding

    Fierce, controversial, and caught between worlds—Heck cattle embody the complex intersection of dark history and modern conservation. This final episode of Season 5 of the Animal Highlight explores how these bovines were deliberately bred by Nazi zoologists in the 1920s and now find themselves at the center of rewilding debates across Europe. Recorded: 14 December 2023   Featured:  Season 6 Grad Review on The Animal TurnThe Cow with Ear Tag #1389 by Kathryn Gillespie From “Nazi Cows” to Cosmopolitan “Ecological Engineers” by Jamie Lorimer and Clemens DriessenConceptualizing the multispecies triadby Andrea Petitt American Cows in Antarctica by Elizabeth Leane and Hanne Nielsen  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, xeno canto: https://xeno-canto.org/species/milvus-milvus  Learn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    15 min
  2. S5E9: Red Kites - Conservation and The Ethical Dilemmas of Wildlife Translocation

    JUL 28

    S5E9: Red Kites - Conservation and The Ethical Dilemmas of Wildlife Translocation

    Virginia explores how the recovery of red kites in Britain has been shaped by international efforts and cross-border collaborations between governments and NGOs. Thinking about these birds, Virginia raises questions and concerns about translocation, culture, and species conservation.  Recorded: 14 December 2023  Featured:  International Relations with Andrea Schapper on The Animal TurnNatural EnglandRoyal Society for Protection of Birds  Animal Culture with Carl Safinaon The Animal TurnBears on Displayat Queen’s University  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, xeno canto: https://xeno-canto.org/species/milvus-milvus  Learn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/  Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    14 min
  3. S5E8: Wolf Rewilding - Rethinking Risk and Coexistence

    JUL 21

    S5E8: Wolf Rewilding - Rethinking Risk and Coexistence

    Virginia tells us how grey wolves are reclaiming territories across Europe and North America through a process known as auto-rewilding—autonomously returning to lands from which humans once drove them out. This powerful expression of nonhuman agency challenges our conventional approach to wildlife management and invites us to reconsider what coexistence means in the Anthropocene.   Recorded: 22 November 2023   Featured:  S6E8: Re-Animalization with Krithika Srinivasan on The Animal TurnRe-animalising wellbeing: Multispecies justice after development by Krithika SrinivasanRespecting Nature’s Autonomy in Relationship with Humanity by Ned Hettinger  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, We Animals Media, NBC News Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PbsuGGWUrM Learn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    13 min
  4. S5E7: Mink Concerns - The Cost of Fur Through a Photographer's Lens

    JUL 14

    S5E7: Mink Concerns - The Cost of Fur Through a Photographer's Lens

    In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas uses one of Jo-Anne McArthur’s images as her inspiration. She compares and contrasts the lives of mink kept for fur with those of wild mink before reflecting on some of the ethical and environmental concerns that emerge from using mink for fur.   Recorded: 12 October 2023   Featured:  S6E7: Animal Photojournalism with Jo-Anne McArthur on The Animal Turn. We Animals MediaCovid Outbreaks On Mink Farms Stir Controversy Among Scientists on NBC News NOWAmerican Mink and the Cost of Fur by Virginia Thomas.   Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, We Animals Media, NBC News Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PbsuGGWUrM Learn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/  Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    11 min
  5. S5E6: Brown Dog - The Forgotten Terrier Who Sparked a Movement

    JUL 7

    S5E6: Brown Dog - The Forgotten Terrier Who Sparked a Movement

    In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas talks about Brown Dog, a canine who in 1903 was subjected to vivisection at University College London. Two activists brought his plight to the attention of the International Antivivisection Society and what ensued was a series lengthy legal and social battles commonly referred to as "The Brown Dog Affair." Recorded: 26 October 2023   Featured:  S6E6: Social Movement Mobilization and Feminism with Corey Lee Wrenn on The Animal Turn.S5E5: Animal Testing and its Alternatives with Thomas Hartung on The Animal Turn.The Brown Dog Affair by Virginia Thomas.   Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound EffectsLearn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    17 min
  6. S5E5: Honeybees - Exploited Labour and Sticky Ethics

    JUN 30

    S5E5: Honeybees - Exploited Labour and Sticky Ethics

    In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas discusses honeybees and the ways in which they are exploited for their honey. She notes how much labour goes into making honey and the scale of the industry that relies on it. Because of the violence and exploitation in the industry vegans do not eat honey. Recorded: 26 October 2023   Featured:  S6E5: Abolition with Gary Francione on The Animal Turn. The Bees of the World by Charles D Michener.World Bee Day by the FAO. Bees and the Politics of Honey by Virginia Thomas  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound EffectsLearn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    11 min
  7. S5E4: European Wildcat - Dilemmas of Conservation

    JUN 23

    S5E4: European Wildcat - Dilemmas of Conservation

    In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas discusses the European Wild Cat and their entangled relationships with domesticated cats. She notes how the interbreeding between these two species has conservationists worried and has resulted in a range of, oftentimes, violent interventions into their animals’ lives. Recorded: 12 October 2023   Featured:  S5E3: Feral and Invasive Species with Lauren van Patter on The Animal Turn.S6E4: Violence with Dinesh Wadiwel on The Animal Turn. Scottish ‘Highland Tiger’ wildcat more endangered than Asian cousin on the BBC.Giraffe Marius slaughtered in Copenhagen Zoo, fed to lions on Euronews. The Violent Conservation of the European Wildcat by Virginia Thomas  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, BBC, Euronews. Learn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    14 min
  8. S5E3: Pale Male - Manhattan's Famous Red-Tailed Hawk

    JUN 16

    S5E3: Pale Male - Manhattan's Famous Red-Tailed Hawk

    Virginia Thomas tells us about a red-tailed hawk named Pale Male who sparked controversy and admiration when he built his nest on a luxury Fifth Avenue apartment building in New York City. Pale Male is a celebrity whose story illuminates questions about animal habitat rights in urban environments. Recorded: 12 October 2023   Featured:  Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog.S6E3: Moral Imagination and Habitat Rights with Steve Cooke on The Animal Turn.The Legend of Pale Male, a documentary.Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman.The Tale of Male by Jeanette Winter.Recognizing Pale Male by Virginia Thomas.  Virginia Thomas is an environmental social scientist with a PhD in Sociology. She is interested in people’s interactions with their environment and with other animals. Virginia’s work explores the social and ethical questions in human-animal relationships. She is currently a research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘From Feed the Birds to Do Not Feed the Animals’ which examines the drivers and consequences of animal feeding. This leads on from her previous research which examined human-animal relations in the media (as part of zoonotic disease framing) and in rewilding projects (in relation to biopolitics and human-animal coexistence). You can connect with Virginia via Twitter (@ArbitrioHumano).   Credits: Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Virginia Thomas, script write, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)Gordon Clarke, bed music composerSound clips taken from: BBC Sound Effects, Legend of Pale Male TrailerLearn more about the team here.   Support the podcast via:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us a text A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    13 min
See All (48)

About

Set around specific themes, The Animal Highlight offers glimpses into the wonderful and complex worlds of animals. This is a spinoff of The Animal Turn Podcast, a podcast that unpacks important concepts in animal studies. 

Information

  • Creator
    Claudia Hirtenfelder
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 The Animal Highlight
  • Show Website
    The Animal Highlight