SoFurry lost its custom chat last weekend after a key developer responded to a ban by filing a copyright-based takedown demand. [Conan/vivisector]

Site leader Toumal responded with assurances that a new chat module would be provided, and made a call for donations. A temporary chat has since been implemented.

While most would ignore a stray dog or call an animal control unit, Jewish rabbis in Jerusalem sentenced a wandering dog to be stoned to death. The crime? The dog was suspected to be the reincarnated spirit of a secular lawyer who had insulted the court 20 years ago.

Update (20 Jun): The court concerned has strongly denied the original source's claims.

Court is stressful for everyone, but especially for young family members. Now the Courthouse Dogs Program provides comfort to children and families going through the court system.

Dogs from Roxy Reading visited the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown, Pennsylvania as part of a pilot program launched by county Judge Robert Mellon.

A long-standing issue regarding the potential legality of bestiality in Florida is expected to be put to ease soon with the governor's signature.

Animal abuse cases have been known in Florida; many may have seen a story where a blind man named Alan Yoder, known as Jayren in the furry fandom, admitted performing sex acts with his guide dog — although in that case, the lack of a specific law did not prevent him being charged with felony animal cruelty.

Senate Bill 344 (full text), which makes acts of bestiality a first class misdemeanor, passed the House Wednesday at 115-0 and awaits Governor Rick Scott's signature before becoming law. If signed, it becomes effective October 1. The Senate bill previously passed on a vote of 38-0.

Update (May 7): Noted the identity of the man sparking the case, provided by rodox_video.

Running a furry encyclopedia isn't all fun and barnstars. Over the past five years, WikiFur's administrators have been faced with edit wars, trolls, spam, exclusion requests, profit-seeking hosts, battles over WikiFur's service mark – and above all, constant legal threats, including the dreaded DMCA takedown request.

It all got too much for site founder GreenReaper, who moved WikiFur to Germany last weekend.

Editors hope the move will resolve the site's legal issues, as none of its law-loving detractors – all from the USA, UK or Canada - can use German.

Following the trend of imageboard mishaps, lulz.net has been thrown off Dreamhost after HardBlush founder Onta sent a notification of copyright infringement. [tip: Freehaven]

Apparently this was far from the first notification sent by disgruntled copyright-holders. Regardless, lulz.net's administrator appears confident of resuming service soon.

Update (11 March): The board is back up, apparently at Tocici.

The repopulation of grey wolves in Montana and Idaho led to their removal from the Endangered Species List in 2008, concerning many conservationists. But last August a U.S. federal judge ruled this kind of subdivision of populations illegal.

Now Michael Brune of the Sierra Club says lawmakers seek to withdraw this protection through a budget amendment. [tip: Ezno]

Alan Berlin, better known in the furry fandom as Alan T. Panda, has withdrawn his guilty pleas in relation to charges that he sexually propositioned a 15-year-old boy online.

Berlin came to the attention of the media in May 2009, when he was first arrested for unlawful contact with a minor. According to investigators, Berlin, a resident of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, had been in communication with the teen for several weeks and had proposed travelling to the boy's home to have sex in the backyard, and in a shed on his parents' property.

In the furry fandom, Berlin was a fursuiter, babyfur, and "daddyfur/caretaker with a cub side". The media noted Berlin's connection to the fandom, as investigators believed that he and the boy had met on a furry internet site. When Berlin's home was searched, wolf and cat-like costumes were found, and it was alleged that Berlin had discussed dressing up in animal costumes as part of having sex with the boy.

Mature furry imageboard e621 has apparently closed its doors:

Thanks to numerous threats to our host, false claims of illegal content, harassment and a few things that are much worse, e621 is being closed down permanently. It's been fun running it.

The closure is likely the result of allegations made earlier today that e621 hosted cartoon child pornography.

Update: All is impermanent. Varka (CEO of Bad Dragon) intends to take over the site.

Police know drug users, dealers, and traffickers use elaborate methods of protecting and concealing their illegal goods, but this one is a first in Canada: thirteen black bears, found by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a marijuana plantation in Christina Lake, British Columbia (near the US-Canada border).

The bears were apparently trained to guard two fields of marijuana plants and fed to become docile and trainable, defending the hidden plantation containing over 2300 plants.  The closest past parallel was police finding a two-meter (six-foot) crocodile at a grow-op in 2003.

Read more at WDIV-DT - ClickOnDetroit.com and The Windsor Star.

Boomer The Dog is attempting to change his legal name, as reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I want to have my own identity. Everyone should have their own, and if it means having another name than what they were given, then they should go for it.

At the courthouse, Judge Ron Folino warned that he might veto the change if it "causes confusion in the community" or would be "seen as bizarre."

Update: Boomer's petition was denied; Judge Folino ruled the change to "The Dog" could risk public welfare. His closing statement: "Although Petitioner apparently wishes it were otherwise, the simple fact remains that Petitioner is not a dog."

Wolves in Montana and Idaho can breathe easier after a federal judge reinstated their protection this Friday.

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted northern Rocky Mountain wolves after the population reached 1,200 in the winter, claiming that "all threats to the wolf population [...] have been resolved."

But Judge Molloy wrote "the plain language of the Endangered Species Act does not allow the agency to divide a [population segment] into a smaller taxonomy."

Not wanting to let Arizona get all the glory, the Ohio Senate has passed a bill banning the creation of "human-animal hybrids."

The bill was supported by the Ohio Christian Alliance and threatens violators with up to a year in jail, and a minimum fine of $250,000 if they make a profit.

Politico notes the Arizona state legislature's attempt to ban human-animal hybrids. [Bos'n]

Senate bill 1307, which passed 16-12, prohibits (among other things):

• creating or attempting to create an in vitro human embryo by any means other than fertilization of a human egg by a human sperm.
• creating or attempting to create a human-animal hybrid
• transferring or attempting to transfer a human embryo into a nonhuman womb
• transferring or attempting to transfer a nonhuman embryo into a human womb, and
• transporting or receiving for any purpose a human-animal hybrid

The U.S. Supreme Court this week struck down a law forbidding depictions of animal cruelty.

The 1999 Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act was passed in response to outcry over the creation of so-called "crush" videos featuring the deaths of small animals.

The case, United States v. Stevens, involved videos containing scenes of dogfights. In the 8-1 majority opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts said:

While the prohibition of animal cruelty has a long history in American law, there is no evidence of a similar tradition prohibiting depictions of such cruelty.

See also: Cat Killing is OK as Art?