The full first episode will be available at 8 AM BST on July 6th, wherever you get your podcasts. For anyone who wants an early preview, I’ll post the episode on my Patreon page around 11 AM today. It will be free to listen — no membership required

This episode isn’t just about cages or barns. It’s about what happens when captivity is engineered directly into an animal’s biology — long before she ever sees the world. the system inside the hen Amber’s work helping to expose the egg industry make one thing clear: modern hens are bred for output, not wellbeing. Their reproductive systems have been pushed to produce an egg a day — a biological demand no wild ancestor ever faced.

Before a fish ever reaches a tank, it’s already lived through confinement, transport, and stress we rarely acknowledge. Captivity starts long before the glass walls.

One of the themes that came up early was the idea that good welfare isn’t just about meeting basic needs. It’s about recognising that animals have preferences, histories, and ways of navigating the world that don’t always line up with our plans. Lauri talks about agency in a very down‑to‑earth way: who chooses where to be, who initiates interaction, who opts out. These aren’t dramatic moments, but they tell you a lot about whether an environment is working for the individuals