SoFurry is running an adult short story contest. The topic is endangered animals — specifically, tigers, rhinos and giant pandas.

Entries must prominently feature at least one of the selected species in a sexual situation, and preferably all three.

One story of roughly 2500 to 10,000 words may be entered per person; it must be submitted to the site with the keyword EnSpContest by March 20. The winner will receive a box of Austrian "Mirabell Mozardkugel" (chocolate and marzipan balls) from site admin Toumal.

The site previously ran a Valentine's Day competition, accepting tame and adult artwork in black, white, and red. The winning work was by Cyran.

[source: Farry/alt.fan.furry]

Photos by Pyat (more)

Canadian convention Furnal Equinox has begun in style, attracting 330 attendees to Toronto in its first year.

The event is the first hotel-based furry con in the Eastern provinces since 2007. After the closure of C-ACE and the failure of Anthrofest to find a suitable venue, only long-running camping con Feral! and British Columbia's one-night Howloween remained.

The two-day, non-stop schedule included 24-hour gaming, reflections on the history of the fandom, and dancing until 6AM. At least 36 fursuiters participated in the parade, and a variety of dealers and foreign observers were present.

See more: Photos, videos and con reports

The Fandom's Favorite Fursuit Fracas has opened this year's nominations.

Fandom members are invited to submit both full-body fursuits and partial fursuits which cover the wearer completely when clothes are included. Fursuits should be owned by other furry fans; corporate and sports mascots are not eligible, and copyrighted characters may be removed on request.

Up to eight fursuits owned by any one person will be considered. Self-nominations must be balanced by nominations for the suits of others. Owners wishing to exclude individual suits or opt out completely must do so before April 3. Nominations must be in before March 30.

The Fracas grew to 326 suits last year, resulting in plans to change the knockout format.

ScienceDaily reports on recently-published research at the University of Florida to create a hydrophobic surface that resembles spider hair.

The key, according to UF professor Wolfgang Sigmund, is the material's chaotic structure, which mixes long/short and curved/straight hairs.

The effect relies entirely on the material's structure. An oil-repellent version is also possible, though the relevant research is yet to be published.

Tricky Pomeranian features as a sparkledog in this thinly-veiled ad for Don't Hug Cacti:

[credit: kebdraggie/furry reddit — music: Crazy Loop - Johanna (Shut Up)]

A link-sprinkled news post in TIME discusses the possibility for a state-wide animal-abuser registry in California. [credit: Doodles/furryne.ws]

The proposed registry is estimated to cost anywhere from half-a-million to a million dollars to setup, plus another $300,000-$400,000 annually.

While nobody really wants to support animal abuse, an editorial from the Fresno Bee notes the current proposal does not have the backing of pet food vendors, whose products would be taxed to fund it, and suggests it duplicates the work of private anti-abuse organizations.

From the archives — a 1970s Robert Klein stand-up routine on anthropomorphism:

[credit: AshMCairo/furryne.ws]

Fans of fur-heavy webcast FursuitTV are preparing for its 4th anniversary show, set to stream this Saturday at 10PM UTC (5PM EST) for up to three hours.

FursuitTV is created by Timduru with footage from ads, movies, media coverage, con videos and fan submissions. This month's edition will mix best-of clips from the past year's shows with all-new material.

Joining #FursuitTV on Anthrochat (web client) is recommended for the complete experience. The show normally lasts an hour and airs on the first Saturday of each month.

Russian furs now have another event to budget for besides the long-running Rusfurrence.

The Summer Furry Conference [translation] will be held 8-11 July at the Korobitsyno Cascade, on the Karelian Isthmus linking Russia and Finland. The hotel opened in 2008 and boasts "comfortable rooms of a European level."

Event organizers expect to attract 70-100 in the first year, including a few from Finland and Ukraine, though there's room for up to 130. At press time 62 had registered interest, most from St. Petersburg or Moscow.