The “Mollisan Town quartet”, by pseudonymous Swedish author Tim Davys, is (are?) four hard-boiled complex crime thrillers, each set in one of Mollisan Town’s four districts, with a stuffed-animal cast. Hey, if regular animals can be anthropomorphized, why not plushies?

“Amberville” (February 2009); hardcover $19.99 (343 pages), Kindle $8.99.
“Lanceheim: A Novel” (June 2010); hardcover $21.99 (371 pages), Kindle $9.99.
“Tourquai: A Novel” (February 2011); hardcover $19.99 (325 pages), Kindle $9.99.

The first three novels were published by Albert Bonnier Förlag in Stockholm in 2007, 2008, and 2010, and published in English by HarperCollins one or two years later; all three are translated by Paul Norlen. The concluding novel, Yok, is scheduled for July 2012.

Blake T. Sanderford, known as Xanth in furry fandom, was arrested last Wednesday for "crimes against nature and aggravated cruelty to animals" after posting an online video of himself sexually molesting a dog. [FoxTrotFever/furrydrama_2]

Sanderford, a resident of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, was arrested January 18 after State Police received a complaint about the video. He remained in jail on Thursday on a $11,000 bond.

Sanderford's computers were seized for further investigation; his dog was taken into the care of the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter.

Update (25 Jan): Insane Kangaroo reports contacting the shelter, who said the dog had been transferred to a foster home. When asked whether she would be put down, they replied "we don't put down animals which are the victims."

As the remaining conversation is now off-topic, comments have been closed.

San Fernando sounds like a bleak place! It’s a small island port that has sunk into squalor, tyrannized by a giant, sadistic gangster, “Smiley O”, Smiley O’Hannigan – a wolf so massive that he seems to be literally bulletproof – and his predator thugs. The isolated town has been written off by the rest of the world:

‘But … but nobody leaves San Fernando!’ It was true. The nearest port, they had said in school, was two weeks’ journey by boat, north to the southern tip of Galway. Nobody could get visas anymore.   No one was allowed out. (p. 68)

Johnny Ludlam is a sixteen-year-old jackrabbit, the fatherless son of an elderly music teacher. In happier days his father was the local hero, a lifeguard who had saved almost forty people from drowning before he disappeared in a rescue gone bad.

Today the inhabitants of San Fernando are all dispirited, and the impoverished Johnny and his mother are about to lose their apartment. Johnny’s sole friend is the streetwise junkie Rab, a color-shifting, normally pale-green anole. Johnny’s mother is reduced to giving him her valuable clarinet to pawn for rent money, but nobody will buy it. Nobody has time for music any more in San Fernando.

Johnny dreams of becoming a hero, as his father was. And he may have a crazy chance.

Illustrated by Cooner. Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, January 2011.
Trade paperback $9.95 (191 pages), Kindle $5.99.

Kristian Timmerman, a 32-year-old man who had a "fetish for dressing as a wolf", has been jailed for 22 months for the sexual grooming of a 12-year-old girl. [Ellonwye/Furrydrama2]

The Indonesian-born Timmerman made contact with the girl after she set up a profile on YouTube, where Timmerman hosted fan-videos relating to animated movie Alpha and Omega.

Timmerman spent months sending her flattering messages and cartoons, and moved from the Netherlands to Liverpool, England, where the girl lived. Although she did not reveal her exact address, he determined it by examining photographs the girl had posted of her dog.

Two young German Shepherds, year-and-a-half old Devaki and Makita, were shot and killed on November 12. Co-owners Shannon Hautala, Gary Kuoppala and Alexis Gunderson spoke with the press.

The owners were doing chores on their farm in Clinton Township, Iron Range, Minnesota.

The dogs ducked under a fence and ran into the woods. The owners started calling for the dogs as soon as they went out of sight. Hautala said she heard gunshots shortly afterwards.

The next morning, Hautala found the dogs dead near a hunting stand on the adjoining property. Hautala said the hunters admitted to her they had shot the dogs. Kuoppala said:

All they said is they can shoot anything that comes on their land and if the dogs come on their land, they can shoot them.

On Wednesday morning, Peter Bower (known in the furry community as Krypto1701) stood before Shelby Municipal Court on a charge of animal cruelty. This stemmed from the discovery that he had had sexual relations with a three-year-old shepherd-mix dog.

Bower's attorney, Gordon Eyster, entered a no contest plea on behalf of his client, and Judge Jon Schaefer found him guilty of the first-degree misdemeanor. He then sentenced Bower to 80 days of community service and two years of probation, as well as a $500 fine.

Judge Schaefer prohibited Bower from owning any animals, ordering him to undergo a sexual evaluation and take sex addiction classes. Opting against imprisonment, he said, "I believe you have a very severe problem. My first impulse is jail time, but jail will not help you."

Richland County Humane Society agent Missy Houghton and Richland County Dog Warden Dave Jordan expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

Ohio furs Brown Leopard (Ronald R. Packer II, 33), his wife, Wolfie Stonespirit (Jennifer Packer, 30) and Keba (Joseph O. Luna, 21) were arrested July 14 after exiting a barn around 3AM. The trio were charged with breaking and entering and receiving stolen property.

Marion County police recovered a large amount of stolen property from their home and estimate they have committed over sixty thefts in the area. Brown Leopard is also wanted in West Virginia for failure to appear on a weapons offense.

A day later, Sibe (Ross Herbert Reddick, 31) was booked into Clackamas County Jail, charged with third degree sexual abuse, recklessly endangering another person, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor, endangering the welfare of a minor and sexual misconduct.

Two more counts of animal cruelty have been added to the charges already faced by Peter Bower, known in the furry fandom as Krypto1701.

In May, Bower was charged with two counts of animal cruelty after authorities discovered that he had had sexual relations with his three-year-old shepherd-mix dog, Aurora. New evidence suggests sexual activity with a previous pet, a German shepherd named Maggie.

The five-minute animation Out of Sight tells a touching story of Chico and her dog. [earthfur]

Read more: The making of Out of Sight

Peter Bower, known in the furry fandom as Krypto1701, has been charged with animal cruelty after he allegedly had sex with a dog he adopted last month.

In mid-May, the dog warden of Richmond County, Ohio, received an e-mail tip on Bower, including links to bestiality-themed websites. Investigators found photos of Bower with multiple animals, including several dogs and possibly a horse.

Flying first class may help you avoid luggage charges, but it doesn't mean you can pack endangered animals in there, as the BBC News reports.

A man flying from Bangkok to Dubai was arrested by undercover police after trying to check in suitcases containing rare juvenile animals: two leopards, two panthers, an Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys, all sedated and packed in carefully-crafted containers.

Freeland Foundation director Steven Galster observed the arrest:

It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before. The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases.

Swedish newspaper Gotebors-Posten reports that police fired shots at a person wearing a costume, who held up a bank in a large shopping center in the city of Gothenberg late Friday.

A witness told G-P that:

A man in a monkey outfit, or similar, may have been a bear too, came running with security guards behind him. I thought it was a joke at first, a stunt, but then I walked past the bank and saw the shattered glass.

A burning car was discovered by police near the crime scene about an hour after the robbery. Investigations for the unusually-attired suspect are continuing, but he outran the officers at the scene and no arrests have yet been made. [via The Sydney Herald Sun]

Formic Hivemind, charged in April with sexually abusing a boy he met over the internet, has been indicted on nineteen charges by a Monroe County grand jury.

It is alleged that Formic Hivemind (the online alias of 19-year-old Richard J. Kretovic) abused the 12-year-old boy after meeting him through Xbox Live. The indictments handed down by the grand jury are for nine counts each of the felonies of first-degree criminal sexual acts and second-degree sexual abuse, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Kretovic is currently free on $50,000 bail. A date for his appearance in Monroe County Court or the state Supreme Court has yet to be set.

Police in Greece, New York have arrested Richard Kretovic, 19 - known in the furry fandom as Formic Hivemind - on a charge of sex abuse. Police say the victim is a boy younger than thirteen.

Police Sgt. Joseph Antinora further said that Kretovic met the alleged victim chatting on Xbox Live; and that upon discovering he was local to the boy, Kretovic arranged a meeting with him, after which sexual acts occurred in Kretovic's basement.

The boy's mother suspected he may have been abused and contacted police near the end of March. Their investigation lead to Kretovic, who was arraigned in Greece Town Court, and remanded to the Monroe County Jail before being released on $50,000 bail.

The trial of Alan Berlin, known in the furry fandom as Alan T. Panda, has begun. Berlin, a resident of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was arrested on May 28, 2009, on accusations that he had propositioned a fifteen-year-old boy over the internet. His arrest came after the boy's parents found sexually explicit messages on his computer and they contacted the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

Amongst furries, Berlin presented himself as a "daddyfur and caretaker" who was "looking for a babyfur to be (his) mate and companion in a long-term committed relationship." When Berlin's home was searched, wolf and cat-like costumes were found, and it was alleged that Berlin discussed dressing up in animal costumes and engaging in sex.

Update (14 Apr): The jury failed to reach a verdict. A new trial is set for May.