Episode 8 of Series 16: The Captivity Conversation- Transcript

Drawing on his experience working both inside zoos and as a policy advocate, Chris argues that while captivity may have a limited role in species recovery, modern zoos often fall short of their conservation promises and raise profound questions about what animals need to truly thrive.

Guest Bio: Chris is captivity research and policy manager at the Born Free Foundation. He has over 10 years of experience in captive animal-related fields with previous roles including zoos and other captive animal establishments before joining Born Free over five years ago. Chris has expertise in the welfare of wild animals kept in zoos and as pets, as well as related topics including behaviour, conservation and legislation relating to the captive keeping of wild animals. He leads and oversees the production of evidence-based reports, publications, and recommendations that inform and influence policy, practice, and public opinion on the issues affecting captive wild animals. The reports and academic publications have been featured in scientific journals, presented at conferences, including the Oxford Centre for Animals Ethics’ 2025 Summer School, and featured in various forms of media.Chris also regularly represents Born Free within stakeholder working groups, government consultations and various interview formats.

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Episode 7/8 of Series 16 : The Captivity Conversation - Transcript

Maddy describes multispecies design as moving beyond human-centered design to consider how products, systems, and services affect non-human lives. We discuss sanctuaries as “safe bubbles” and the idea of “captive freedom,” parallels to children’s constrained freedom. Maddy explains her methods combining sensory/visual ethnography with speculative design and storytelling, including a role-playing card-based workshop imagining post-farming futures and power, hierarchy, and captivity across humans, animals, and land.

Guest Bio: Madelena Mañetto Quick is a design innovation lecturer specifically centring multispecies design and design justice. Since working on and completing her Masters project, a design and culture exploration of a pig farm in Aotearoa New Zealand, she has been focused on understanding the worlds we build with farmed animals. Madi’s research has subsequently explored interspecies relationships within farms and farm animal sanctuaries and the stories surrounding them. As a creative design researcher, Madi adopts a multidisciplinary approach, entangling multispecies ethnography, narrative studies, and speculative design. Her work aims to challenge dominant assumptions, reimagine human-animal relationships, and envision radical, hopeful futures through critical design and storytelling.

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Episode 7 of Series 16: The Captivity Conversation- Transcript

Dogs live under profound human control and their wellbeing depends on how we understand their agency, sensory world, and autonomy. This conversation asks us to observe our dogs like ethologists — with curiosity rather than correction — and to rethink what ethical care looks like when the captive animal is living right beside us.

Guest Bio: Jessica Pierce is a bioethicist and writer whose work explores how humans might live more attentively and responsibly alongside other animals. She is the author of fourteen books on animal ethics, environmental philosophy, and human–animal relationships, including Who’s a Good Dog? And How to Be a Better Human and Dogpedia: A Brief Compendium of Canine Curiosities. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, TIME, and Scientific American. Pierce is a faculty affiliate at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical School, and she lives in the Colorado Rockies, where her thinking is shaped by daily encounters with dogs, wildlife, and the more‑than‑human world.

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