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Our community has its ups and downs, but helping each other through the trying and difficult times is what can make our community strong. Join the cast as they explore how furries help each other in moments of crisis.

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SHOW NOTES Thank you!

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MUSIC

• Intro: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth
• First Break: 90s Kid – TheDiabicalWaffle, Argofox, Creative Commons 2023
• Second Break: Fox Stuff – EkkoFox, Argofox, Creative Commons 2023
• Third Break: Rise – Ampyx, Argofox, Creative Commons 2022.
• Patreon: Inflammatus – The Tudor Consort, Creative Commons 2019
• Closing: Cloud Fields (RetroSpecterChill Remix), USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth

S11E3 – Furs Helping Furs - Our community has its ups and downs, but helping each other through the trying and difficult times is what can make our community strong. Join the cast as they explore how furries help each other in moments of crisis. - NOW LIS

TigerTails Radio Season 15 Episode 26. Join the Discord Chat: https://discord.gg/SQ5QuRf For a full preview of events and for previous episodes, please visit http://www.tigertailsradio.co.uk. See website for full breakdown of song credits, which is usually updated shortly after the show. If you like what we do and wish to throw some pennies our way to support us, please consider sending a little tip our way. https://streamlabs.com/tigertailsradio/tip * Please note, tips are made to support TigerTails Radio and are assumed as made with good faith, so are therefore non-refundable. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Zero (white) and partner Siro_Kami (blue)

A misunderstood person moves to a new place, and faces more misunderstanding, but uses creativity to stand proud and reach people who do understand.

It’s a tale told a million times, known by a million furries worldwide (and subcultures of every stripe.) It’s the tale of Frankenstein’s rejected creature, who finds kindness from a blind person, but has to run from the prejudice and torches of angry villagers.

It’s a tale that wasn’t told by a local CBS channel who only reported the villager’s side, “Furries” with satanic symbols spotted near Sacramento County elementary school, parents say. They didn’t talk to any furries they reported about, or mention resources about them for the media like Furscience, or the history of Satanic Panic spreading prejudice and harming schools and communities like theirs.

Antelope, CA is 15 miles from Sacramento. Attitudes about order there may be influenced by history: In 1973 the town was blown away when trains full of bombs for Viet Nam exploded. It was rebuilt as a planned community where “most homes are new and the area is well planned out”. It’s rated safer than average for crime among 45,000 residents, and is unincorporated with policing by the County Sheriff, and nearby town departments under contract for schools and parks.

Natural Elements

Zero The HellHound is an 18-year old trans furry facing the villagers’ wrath. He recently moved to Antelope, where he doesn’t have a job or car, but you have to drive to get anywhere. On maps, the neighborhood doesn’t have a restaurant for hanging out within a 2-3 mile walk, and he also might have to fear going alone. So for about 2 weeks, Zero has been visiting Firestone Park (a name almost made for this story.) It’s a public park in sight of the family home that recently took him in. At the park he’s been chilling in nature, and practicing fursuit dancing for a Tiktok audience of over 14K followers. Instead of hiding inside with depression, it helps him to be confident to dance where anyone can see.

Zero won the dance competition at Golden State Fur Con, but at Firestone Park, he got eggs thrown at him by middle school kids who came to hassle him. Angry adults think he’s there to be Satanic, or target little kids next door at the Olive Grove Elementary school, but he says those kids only show positive notice. He also made two new friends who came up and complimented his fursuit. His reaction was “Wow, you know what a fursuit is?”

Many people confront him about the fursuit. Zero is a fursuit maker who plays a Skulldog, like a spooky creature from Ghostbusters or shows like Hazbin Hotel. It represents the story of a character who was originally a human with one abusive parent, which led to suicide, earning God’s judgement of going to hell. There he transforms and gets symbols burned on him, but has his own place to live. Many teens find catharsis in stories about overcoming trauma and asserting “it’s ok to be weird”. Some symbols on his character are trans scars and LGBT Pride colors (which have been targets of pedophilia accusation at the park). There’s also pentagrams, but Zero claims he’s not religious and they aren’t Satanic (pointing down), they are the kind that points up to represent natural elements.

Finger Guns

The story doesn’t communicate to the lady who confronts him one day to say, “do you think it’s OK to be in costume at this park?” She claims it’s scaring kids. As far as Zero knows, no kids have been scared. Only parents… although groups of many kids harass this 18-year old even when he’s not in fursuit. One adult was threatening almost to the point of punching him. But Zero isn’t leaving Firestone Park just because they’re mad. It’s public property and he has a right to be there. He also denies that he times visits for when kids get out of school, and says the park generally isn’t busy. Should he only go when nobody can see him or there’s no light for videos?

In one of Zero’s Tiktok videos, he and his friend sit on a park bench while people crowd up to take video and complain that kids can’t play there. “We’re minding our own business”, they tell an adult who isn’t holding back kids from bouncing a basketball at them and lining up aggressively like stereotypical jock bullies in a movie. Another adult demands to get Zero’s face in their video, and threatens to call police on him for legally wearing a mask.

Lacking real crime to complain about, they reach to accuse his Tiktok videos of being a school shooting threat. Zero exasperatedly explains that they went digging for a “very very old” (2022) video made in his house with a finger-guns meme that went around, or a “pope dance” meme with pointing. This came out in the CBS article, with a parent complaining about the school ignoring his complaints about someone legally using a park off school property.

Under this pressure, Zero tried going to the principal of Olive Grove Elementary to talk, and she said she just wants to keep kids safe. After the CBS story, Dogpatch Press called the school and emailed the principal to request contact with security or adults involved for comment, but there was no reply.

Collateral Damage

Then there was the incident with Mudpuppy. Zero wants support from friends, and gets a few to come sometimes for making videos. Mudpuppy is a 23-year old furry from Woodland, CA with autism and ADHD, and he was the only one who came on May 2. He was unfamiliar with the area: “I was actually attending an audio/visual workshop in Sacramento before going to the park. It was my first time meeting Zero.” He was wearing a tail but no mask.

With instructions to find a basketball court, Mudpuppy accidentally wandered towards the wrong one on school grounds next to the park. He didn’t realize it until seeing kids playing. Before being able to leave, angry parents got in the way, including one from the CBS article, Kris Williams.

“Kris and one other guy confronted and interrogated me about why I was there. They told me I wasn’t going anywhere and proceeded to call the police. One of them aggressively pulled my camera bag off me. When they asked me who I was meeting, I pulled out my phone so I could tell them. But one of them ripped it out of my hand. They treated me like I was an actual school shooter.”

Mudpuppy found the treatment and reporting hard to understand. “The whole situation was so terrifying that my mind blocked out what they said… I was told CBS was at the school about 20 minutes before I came.” The story was decided before Mudpuppy even became part of it.

Local news features Kris Williams complaining that the school is ignoring complaints that aren’t about school property.

Dancing Around the Issue

It’s easy to prejudge and terrify a lost and needful person who wanders in with a tail making them a target, even when schools are supposed to specially care about autism and bullying. Mudpuppy had to go through all this just to find Zero to give the support that furries do for each other.

That wasn’t all. After he found Zero and started taking pictures, Mudpuppy echoes that they became targets of egg throwing, neighbors yelling that they weren’t welcome and labeling them “pedophile”, and threats of more assault.

Ironically, angry parents were the ones calling police and guns to these scenes with hostility, making a threat of innocent people getting shot. Autism and communication complication has led to wrongful police use of force incidents.

As one set of adults who didn’t fail in this story, police protected the targets. At one point an officer went as far as staying with Zero for an hour at Firestone Park. One officer advised Zero to bring a lot of Sacramento furries there for a big event with security provided by police. It would be a way to assert right to use public space, and show that furries aren’t afraid and aren’t a threat.

Together or alone, Zero keeps doing what he loves. Despite accusations of preying on kids by making videos (of himself), his Tiktok followers are rising a lot. He says he isn’t trying to influence people with pentagrams, but with dancing. For example, one day a group of kids wanted to mock him, but he reacted with dance moves, and one of them actually started defending him. Why don’t mad parents learn from kids like that?

Followup notes

A post about this on r/Sacramento has surprisingly understanding comments with some local insight.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

May 6, 2024: The first episode of Fur and Loathing is HERE. 

Think you’ve heard everything about the 2014 chemical attack on Midwest Furfest? Wait until you hear this.

The intentional release of chlorine gas sent 19 people to the hospital. It was one of the largest chemical weapons terrorist attacks in American history.

Who did it? And… why?

The targets deserve to know, because they were lucky to survive. The weapon’s deadly potential was only avoided by fast response. The level of crime fell just behind the 2001 anthrax attacks, but strangely, nobody was ever charged for it. The story faded into underreporting, disrespect towards the community, murky rumors, and hopes that it won’t happen again. There’s pride in resilience — but 10 years later, justice wasn’t served. It’s the biggest cold case in furry fandom.

The case revived when investigation by Dogpatch Press drew journalist Nicky Woolf and Project Brazen to seek FBI records, identify suspects, and fly across America to interview sources. Nicky is a journalist who reports on internet culture, with stories in The Guardian, and his original podcast series Finding Q and The Sound: Mystery of the Havana Syndrome. Nicky and Brazen’s series Fur And Loathing delivers never-before reported findings to empower the community.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicky Woolf’s introduction for Dogpatch Press

We discuss what was uncovered, Nicky’s work, earning trust among furries, and more. (This is off the cuff and unedited.)

Fur and Loathing is a Furry True Crime podcast of six episodes, releasing weekly.

Thank you to Nicky for his dulcet tones, and Brazen’s super pro team with Max, Lucy, and all who supported investigation that other media didn’t do (besides Vice and the Worst Year Ever podcast.) It was incredible to get first look at their progress, such as matching FOIA document releases with open-source findings.

FYI… we know the title was taken for a TV show episode a long time ago. Nothing else fit so well, so we’re taking it back.

Announcement at Variety and Trailer:

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Looks like you’re stuck with me for another year at least! I am very proud to be serving as the FWG President for my fourth term. Alongside me remains K.C. Shaw as Vice-President, ScribblesCheetah as Markets Manager, and Resolute as the Public Relations Officer.

Watts Martin has decided to step down as the Treasurer, so for now we will be subsuming that role into the other officer positions, though we will likely put out a call for volunteers should anyone wish to step up. We will also be discussing with Maddie about the transition to formally handing over the Coyotl Awards to a new officer.

And speaking of the Coyotls – the winners have been internally verified and will be announced on Friday at FWA. K.C. Shaw will be presenting them live. We are looking into options for livestreaming, but we are currently unsure if this will be viable.

Blood and Water letters will also be going out on the weekend – it was incredible difficult to pick out a selection of stories from an incredibly competitive and skilled submission field. We firmly believe that this will be a fantastic anthology.

The guild officers will be meeting soon to discuss our plans for the year ahead. We will also share any calls for volunteers to fill any availabilities within the team.

For those looking to submit their stories to anthologies, we have the current open markets:

F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out our upcoming and recent releases from FWG members:

Gravitational Pull, by Ty Fox. Released April 15th.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.

As always, FWG members – let us know when you have a new book coming out soon!

Until next time, and for another year, keep safe and happy writing!
J.F.R. Coates

Trailer for Episode 128: Spicy Ramen Challenge / Pt. 5 | Bandit Bandit the Raccoon must now face the fires of the Spicy Ramen Challenge, but with a terrifying twist! #TheRaccoonsDen #TRDs9 #SpicyRamenChallenge

Recently we met the folks at Headless Gnomes, who showed us their new comic book Fangs & Foul Play. “A deserted colonel, Richard, runs into a telepathic vampiric cat, Fang, while trying to flee the horrors of war. Now Richard has to find victims to feed to Fang and serve his every whim. Will he ever escape having to commit terrible atrocities?” Only writer L.K. Ingino knows for sure, ably assisted by artists Alex Guenther and Mariam Yasser. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, issues are available now on their web site.

image c. 2024 Headless Gnomes

Bandit the Raccoon must now face the fires of the Spicy Ramen Challenge, but with a terrifying twist! This challenge is also raising money for the ALS Association! Watch to find out how! Big thanks to our first sponsor, Dragon Roast Coffee! Use code "RACCBREW" to save 15% off your order! https://www.dragonroast.coffee See more at: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com Learn more about the challenge: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com/SRC Learn more about ALS: http://www.als.org/ Follow the host: @BanditTheRaccoon Fursona Art in Thumbnail by GuarezWolf: http://www.Twitter.com/TeCreatureMaker Fursona Art Stills in Episode Intro by Drake Rogers: https://www.Twitter.com/SmokeFox101 -------------------- Featuring Music by: "Drifted" by Regdeh: https://tweezerbeak.bandcamp.com/ SRC OST by DJ EAR: https://djear.com/ FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/TheRaccoonsDen TWITTER/X: http://www.Twitter.com/TheRaccoonsDen FURAFFINITY: http://www.FurAffinity.net/user/TheRaccoonsDen INSTAGRAM: http://www.Instagram.com/TheRaccoonsDen TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@theraccoonsden #TheRaccoonsDen #TRDs9 #SpicyRamenChallenge

Welcome aboard, detectives!

The demo for the newest installment in the World of Wilderness series is coming! Step into the shoes of detectives Moses and Plato, familiar faces from previous title. A crime is happening on the train, and the prime suspect? None other than Detective Moses himself. It's up to you to crack the case aboard the luxurious Clawville Express before it reaches its final destination. The demo will be released May 9th, 2024. Gaming Furever will be sure to post a preview with our thoughts once it arrives! For now, check out the new demo teaser trailer here:

Moses and Plato - Last Train to Clawville combines elements of point-and-click gameplay with a visual novel-style investigative adventure. Act quickly to expose the real perpetrator and unravel the murder mystery, or risk being framed as part of a global conspiracy of the Wilderness!

Check out the previous entry from the World of Wilderness,  Zipp's Café !   

This comedic video series from the Uncivil Gamers stream team for GamingFurever.com explores new released games on a weekly basis. Our streamers each select one game that was just released within the week and each play through their own game. We then edit together the best and funniest moments from the gameplay and deliver them to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 PM ET!

Description on Steam of "DogDogDog": "DogDogDog" is a horror adventure game set in modern times. Recently, you have been feeling like someone is stalking you, making you anxious with the feeling of being watched and hearing noises everywhere. Suddenly, you recall your past pet dog, only to encounter a "DOG" in the present.

Link to video (also embedded below:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRLqiNyREf0

Subscribe to Uncivil Gamers on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UncivilGamers

Leslie Stratton is a Hollywood actress who has appeared in several movies and TV episodes. During COVID lock-down she remembered her mother’s love of pandas, and sat down to write a book based on that. The result was Let’s Share, Panda Bear, illustrated by Zuzana Svobodova. “Have you ever wondered why panda bears are black-and-white? Panda Pete, an incredibly kind panda, discovers a magical way to share colors with his animal friends. As the forest transforms into a vibrant rainbow, each creature joyously embraces their unique shades. Yet, in a touching twist, Pete and Jack learn that being black-and-white has its own special magic.” The web site has all the colorful details!

image c. 2024 Little Freckles Publications

We met writer and illustrator Cherie Okonski at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, and she introduced us to her creation, Gumper the Rabbit. Here’s the description of her first book: “The Secret of Gumper the Rabbit is a story about a bunny who is born different from the other rabbits. Gumper’s best friend Oink, an easily frazzled guinea pig, helps him to use his differences to save the day at the pet store. Gumper learns many new lessons about being different while discovering a secret that is taught to all bunnies.” Here’s part of the secret: Proceeds from the sale of this and other Gumper the Rabbit books go to help children born with congenital heart disease. The official Gumper web site has more, including links to the YouTube channel. (There’s a fursuit!)

image c. 2024 Xulon Press

TigerTails Radio Season 15 Episode 25. Join the Discord Chat: https://discord.gg/SQ5QuRf For a full preview of events and for previous episodes, please visit http://www.tigertailsradio.co.uk. See website for full breakdown of song credits, which is usually updated shortly after the show. If you like what we do and wish to throw some pennies our way to support us, please consider sending a little tip our way. https://streamlabs.com/tigertailsradio/tip * Please note, tips are made to support TigerTails Radio and are assumed as made with good faith, so are therefore non-refundable. Thank you for your support and understanding.

At the L.A. Times Festival of Books we learned about Mythwalker at their big, impressive booth. Maybe it was the smiling corgi in armor that attracted our attention… Mythwalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG created by Nant Games for your cell phone. In it you can play one of three species: Human, Annu (a bird-like humanoid species), and Wulven (a canine species — from which the aforementioned corgi hails). Here is the lore: “Mytherra is a fantastical, parallel planet to Earth ─ a world where throughout history its people and mystical creatures have infiltrated the dreams of humans. Over time, these visions have formed the basis of Earth’s many myths and legends. After a prolonged period of peace, Mytherra is now under attack, which poses a direct threat to Earth as well. A powerful being, known only as The Child, has reached out through the Veil into our world seeking help. She recruits you – the Mythwalker – to uncover the truth about the attackers, explore the connection between the two worlds, and lead Mytherra’s heroes in the defense of their home.” And here is the idea: “MythWalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG adventure mobile game that brings The Child and Mytherra to life through an overworld traversal system, using real locations to tell the stories of Earth’s myths and legends. With narrative-driven quests tied to an intriguing storyline, a cast of magical and memorable characters, a deep progression system, and robust multiplayer modes, MythWalker will connect players worldwide through meaningful global gameplay.” Their web site has a whole lot more information.

image c. 2024 Nant Games

Trailer for Episode 127: Artist Interview! w/ Weka Bandit, Byrdz and BcB host an exclusive interview with Weka, the concept artist of the series! #theraccoonsden #TRDs9 #FurryArtist

Bandit, Byrdz and BcB host an exclusive interview with Weka, the concept artist of the series! Big thanks to our first sponsor, Dragon Roast Coffee! Use code "RACCBREW" to save 15% off your order! https://www.dragonroast.coffee See more at: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com  FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/TheRaccoonsDen TWITTER/X: http://www.Twitter.com/TheRaccoonsDen FURAFFINITY: http://www.FurAffinity.net/user/TheRaccoonsDen INSTAGRAM: http://www.Instagram.com/TheRaccoonsDen TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@theraccoonsden Fursona Art in Thumbnail by Weka: https://www.Twitter.com/DrawsWeka Fursona Art Stills in Episode Intro by Drake Rogers: https://www.Twitter.com/SmokeFox101 -------------------- MUSIC BY: Schtewee: https://www.schtewee.bandcamp.com MDKai: https://midekai.bandcamp.com Jaiko: https://furaffinity.net/user/jaiko soaringjupiter: soundcloud.com/soaringjupiter Doon the Fox: www.soundcloud.com/doonthefox Steven Esso: https://stevenesso.bandcamp.com/ #TheRaccoonsDen #TRDs9 #FurryArtist

M. A. Kastle is a self-published author specializing in urban fantasy and horror — specifically, stories dealing with werewolves and other shapeshifters in the big city. Her series include the Cascade Wolves, the Cascade Saga, and Moonlight Territory. It’s a complex world where not only do the authorities know about the shapeshifters, but some of them actually work for the government — while others, the government is desperately trying to hunt down. Trust is hard to find on all sides, and death is seemingly waiting just around every corner. Visit the author’s web site to find out about her books, her characters, and what’s next.

image c. 2024 M. A. Kastle

 

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

Taebyn and Rayne join Bearly for some furry fun.  We discuss the Ursa Major Awards, discuss furry news, highlight upcoming events, tell so many bad jokes and puns, and even do some more math. We hear a movie review by our cinema expert Cheetaro, and mostly have a great visit. So tune in and join us for a rollicking good time.

This podcast contains adult language and adult topics. It is rated M for Mature. Listener discretion is advised.

Support the Show.

Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting S4E47 - And Then Chaos Occurred

Turns out yesterday’s entry wasn’t the only peacock-centric illustrated book we found at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Peacocks are known for their beautiful feathers, not for their beautiful voices — but what if there was a peacock who actually could sing? What would their fellows think about it? That’s the premise of The Unique Beak, written by singer/songwriter Estani Frizzell and illustrated in watercolor by Sophia Frizzell. “Sai is a kind young peacock who lives with his royal family. He has brilliant blue tail feathers that any regal peacock would be proud of — and Sai loves to sing! But his family laughs at that idea, and at him! They say his beak is too big while making fun of his singing voice. Saddened by their ridicule, Sai finally vows never to sing in front of anyone again! He hides himself away and doubts his dreams. Will he take their criticism to heart? Will he give up? Estani Frizzell’s spirited and unique story shows children how just one special friend’s support can make a difference in carrying us where our talents are meant to take us.” Available now from Greenleaf Book Group.

image c. 2024 Greenleaf Book Group