British comedy puppet series Mongrels has been axed by its television station, BBC3.

The series, described as "Avenue Q meets Family Guy", centred on a troupe of five anthropomorphic animals who hung around the back of a pub on the Isle of Dogs in London.

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.

The Huffington Post reports on a 2012 calendar in the United Kingdom which features cats playing musical instruments. The images in the calendar, released by Maverick Arts, were created by digitally altering photographs of real pet cats.

An examination of the publisher's website reveals several other calendars along similar lines, with such titles as Maverick Meerkats, Ferrets Go Fishing, Water Skiing Westies, and Ballroom Bunnies.

UK fur Snack Raccoon (aka. Dark Raccoon), reported to have died earlier this week, was experimenting with erotic asphyxiation at the time, former mate Ollie Pup has revealed:

IT WAS NOT SUICIDE! it was a sexual fantasy and a breathplay experiment that he did while we were out and went horribly wrong and resulted in what happened.

PLEASE if you are into breath control fantasies or have any kind of snuff fantasies or fetishes or whatever, remember what happened to him and think twice about what you do and for the love of Dark please just never try anything like that on your own.

Snack and Ollie co-hosted Furpile Radio, an online radio show which they founded in 2006. Snack also used to hold Super Smash Bros. tournaments at Eurofurence.

A new British "invisibility cloak" infra-red system, Adaptiv, makes it possible to disguise military vehicles as large animals such as cows, even while moving. This has the potential during warfare to get a lot of animals killed, just to play safe.

The RBW boat party on the River Thames will not be happening in 2011, according to an unofficial announcement by Miyabi on the UKfur forums (registration required).

Reasons cited for the cancellation include prior staff commitments and a lack of boat availability on the desired dates.

RBW, once the UK's largest furry convention, was cancelled early this year due to declining attendance. The boat party was originally intended to continue, and Miyabi has confirmed that staff still hope to put it on in 2012.

Last weekend saw ScotiaCon draw about 50 furs, guests and staff to the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Inverness. Around a dozen fursuits were seen during the three-day event.

Scotland's first furry convention was in planning for over two years. Fursuit builder Fatkraken and local composer Fox Amoore were the guests of honour.

See also: ScotiaCon 2011 trailer and outtakes – con reports: Equium, Awkore

British medical researchers are calling for tighter regulation on research involving animals with human tissue or genes, while cautiously approving some experiments, the BBC reports.

Professor Christopher Shaw highlighted objectionable 'category three' experiments such as:

• the mixing of non-human primate and human cells to make an embryo
• the mixing of human and non-human gametes (reproductive cells)
• the replacement of monkey brain cells with human ones to gain human characteristics

Dr Robin Lovell-Badge suggested a gap between fantasy and reality:

Everyone laughs at talking meerkats and cats with opposable thumbs, but if we were actually doing that in the labs I don't think people would be so happy.

Read: Animals containing human material (synopsis) – Exploring the boundaries (evaluation)

In a followup to the recent report on escaped and released Himalayan rose-ringed parakeets in London, BBC News reports that a new study shows that the parakeets stake out backyard bird feeders and intimidate traditional native British songbirds away from them.

The wild parakeet population in Southern England is growing at an estimated 23% per year. This has led to new demands that the parakeets be culled as an invasive pest.

Residents of the village of Hedge End, in southern England, called police after spotting a white tiger in a field near a local golf course. Armed officers and a police helicopter responded, along with staff from nearby Marwell Zoo.

As the police on the ground approached the tiger, they saw that it was not moving, and themal imaging equipment in the helicopter showed no body heat. At that point, the downdraft from the 'copter caused the tiger to roll over, and police realised they were stalking a life-size plush toy.

Police later commented, "It is being treated as lost property but we don't know how it came to be in the field and whether it may have been a hoax."

The New York Times reports that the population of tropical rose-ringed parakeets in Britain, up from 1,500 ten years ago from escaped or deliberately released pets, has grown to an estimated 30,000 today, "turning a once-exotic bird into a notorious pest that awakens children, monopolizes garden bird feeders, and might even threaten British crops."

The problem is acute in the suburbs of London, with one retiree reporting consumption of the contents of an entire bird feeder in one day.

Smokey, a 12-year-old cat from the UK, made world-wide news in March when she was submitted to Guinness as a candidate for the loudest cat in the world.

Reports claimed her purring reached 73 dB (16 times louder than a normal cat). She was recorded by a music expert from Northampton College and the recording was witnessed by four individuals with various backgrounds.

On 5 May, Guinness announced that Smokey was the loudest domestic cat in the world, at 67.7 dB (LA peak).

The BBC is offering viewers the chance to get behind the set of animal puppet sitcom Mongrels.

Limited numbers of tickets are available for tours and previews on 13th, 20th and 27th May. A random draw for the tickets will take place between now and midday on 9th May.

Last Wednesday (March 2) saw the premier of OMG! With Peaches Geldof, a tabloid-style television program hosted by British model Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof.

The program, airing on Wednesdays at 9pm on the UK's ITV2, is about "people who live unique and often shocking lifestyles - Who are they? What makes them tick? Why do they live the way they do and is it causing them problems or a rewarding way to be?".

Episode 1 featured vampires and internet dating. Episode 2, to air next Wednesday (March 9), is to feature Furries, described in the OMG! episode guide as "people who have a strong appreciation for anthropomorphic animal characters and dress accordingly". The episode also features guest panelist Dom Joly, who Peaches described as "quite an embittered man".

OMG! With Peaches Geldof had previously contacted furries as part of their research phase. The interview is the subject of several threads on the UKFur forums (registration required).

While most animals prefer a ground-level existence, it appears some foxes enjoy the high life. Animal control experts disapprove, as the BBC reports:

We explained to him that if foxes were meant to be 72 storeys off the ground, they would have evolved wings

Construction of the Shard is scheduled for completion before the 2012 Olympics. When finished, it will be the tallest building in the European Union.