Vienna, Austria

Vienna has the potential to be a great habitat for many wild urban animals. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the diverse species cohabiting the city with them. As a result, there is little awareness of these animals’ lives or their well-being. Even worse, some wild urban animals, like pigeons, are often perceived as vermin, much like rats.

Fortunately, in the heart of Vienna, a bat sanctuary provides refuge for injured bats from up to eight species, fostering hope for multispecies cohabitation. Adjacent to it, in the inner courtyard, a home for city pigeons has also been established.

Members of the Vienna Animal Studies group—including researchers from geography, philosophy, and economics—will gather at the bat sanctuary to explore the relationships between bats, pigeons, and urban life. Their discussions will serve as inspiration for scented candles and poetry.

Also, the project serves as a basis for developing a podcast series which will explore the philosophy of hope in relation to urban animals.

Dr. Konstantin Deininger

Konstantin is a philosopher interested in both applied and theoretical questions in animal ethics. In his dissertation, he explored how Cora Diamond’s moral philosophy can be interpreted as a positive account of animal ethics. His recent research focuses on the moral significance of personal human-animal relationships, ethical questions surrounding emerging biotechnological innovations such as organoids, and the ways in which animals are framed within moral theories.

Dr. Claudia Hirtenfelder

Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder is an animal studies scholar and podcaster. She has a PhD in geography from Queen’s University Canada and is interested in the urban animal histories and futures. Claudia is also the founder and host of The Animal Turn and Animal Highlight podcasts. She is currently an external lecturer in Change Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr. Carlo Salzani

Carlo Salzani is a Gastforscher at the Messerli Research Institute of Vienna and a faculty member of the Paris Institute for Critical Thinking (PICT). His research interests include animal ethics, literary animal studies, and biopolitics, and his last publications include the edited collections The Biopolitical Animal (2024) and Animality in Contemporary Italian Philosophy (2020), as well as the books Agamben and the Animal (2022) and Animals, Empathy, and Anthropomorphism: The Limits of Imagination (2025).

Vienna Animal Studies group

The Vienna Animal Studies group and its members are deeply committed to advancing critical animal studies through insightful research, engaging blog posts, and thought-provoking publications. Our goal is to bridge the gap between academia, activism, and public awareness, fostering a richer understanding of animals' lives.

The Austrian Bat Station (Fledermausstation Österreich)

The Austrian Bat Station (Fledermausstation Österreich) is a non-profit organization. We are a team of volunteer animal keepers, veterinarians, biologists, as well as many others who are dedicated to helping our native bats. Our work includes everything from giving advice via telephone to securing found animals, rehabilitating them, and releasing them back at the location where they were found, as well as many sleepless nights during the baby season. The goal of our work is to rehabilitate the patients as quickly as possible so that they can return to their natural habitat. We hope to fix the poor reputation bats have and clear up persistent rumors and preconceived notions. Through our educational work, we want to share the stories of these incredible animals and how exciting and useful they are for the world.

• April 2025-ongoing: Konstantin is trained by the bat sanctuary how to release bats – In many ways this project is a year of learning for us, e.g., which species live in Vienna, when is the pup season, when can a bat released, how they are fed etc. Konstantin assists in transporting injured bats to the sanctuary and releasing recovered bats back into the wild. 
• May 2025 – Carlo publishes Animals, Empathy, and Anthropomorphism: The Limits of Imagination (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-88028-5), which uses bats (and Thomas Nagel’s essay “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”) as paradigmatic animal to test the limits of human imagination and ethics.
• 26 May 2025 – Claudia hosts workshop titled “Imagining Just Multispecies Futures” at Klima Camp (open to the public)
• June 2025 – Konstantin was interviewed by one of Germany's leading newspapers, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, about hedgehogs and the risks posed by robotic lawnmowers (unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall) 
• September 2025 – Workshop with VAS members creating species profiles and writing poetry at the Fledermaus Station. Closed workshop.