Though the Sydney fires have not killed a person yet, thank heavens, many pet owners and wildlife people alike have been worried about the animal toll. In the evacuations, cats, dogs and other animals have often had to be left behind, especially when an 'outdoor' pet could not be found. Possums, wallabies and other slow moving urban wildlife are being rescued by various animal groups. The RSPCA is also working to provide food and water to displaced pets.

Links to key numbers (Wires, RSPCA) as well as bushfire news can be found at Animalworld Australia.

A example of a rescued possum is here.Warning, upsetting link

The Clinton's retriever. Buddy, has been killed. This story on Yahoo! News summarizes the situation. For more details try this Washington Post story.

Online pre-registration for Further Confusion has now ended. Thanks to all of you who took
advantage of it!

We will continue to accept mailed-in registrations through Friday, January 4th.

From cartoonresearch.com:
"As if 2001 wasn't bad enough. Michael Mallory reports the sad news: "Ray Patterson passed away peacefully on Sunday, December 30th." He was 90 years old.

Binti Mafuta, a lone female lioness at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston was killed on November 16th in a rather gruesome turn of events when introducing a new male lion to the zoo. In only four minutes, the male lion had managed to lunge at the elderly female, pierce her windpipe, and choke the lioness to death.

To add to this, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has just cut Zoo New England's budget about 25% in order to cope with costs brought on by a slowing economy and extra funding needed for security due to September 11th expenses.

Visit the Boston Globe for more information. You can also help the park by visiting Zoo New England and supporting the park financially.

From his daughter, Lori:

Jack Carroll Haldeman, II -- December 11, 1941 - January 1, 2002.

Brother. Father. Husband. Friend.

True to form, he chose a moment when nobody was looking at him - he always did cringe at being the center of attention. He went peacefully, as the family was sitting around him, telling jokes and laughing.

More comments and remembrances can be found here.

Advertisement was seen on MTV, for Plushies and Furries

Eurofurence 8 will be held in Hilders (Germany) from August 15th - 18th 2002 .For more information about the con and the location, check out the website . If you'd like to know something about previous Eurofurences go to here. As you will see,there aren't that many furries in Europe, but the community is slowly growing.

Only one week to the closing of nominations for the first annual Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year (Ursa Major) Awards. These Awards, for the best in Furry fiction and art of 2001, will be presented at ConFurence 2002 in April 2002. The nominations are open from December 1, 2001 to January 7, 2002. Anyone may nominate up to five nominees in each of the nine categories.



For nominating instructions, including the e.mail and Post Office Box addresses to which nominations should be sent, see this website.

Two young joeys, partly hairless, pouchbound and suckling, were stolen from a special viewing enclosure at England's Dudley Zoo. The theives broke into the heavy glass enclosure late Friday night, and the curators of the exhibit worried they wouldn't survive the night without their mother. The babies were quickly found, though, when people spotted children carrying them across a road 20 minutes after the robbery. They were later found in a gypsy camp outside the town. Perhaps a late Christmas gift?

Dog meat, a long time traditional food of many cultures, has been outlawed in Korea, but legislators want to push a bill to change that. They say the lack of regulation leads to the inhumane killing and unsanitary handling of dogs in markets currently, which in turn is the primary target for the animal activists against the practice. The opposition to the bill is not only comming from Western animal rights people, but humaine groups in the country as well. Similar bills have been unsucessful.

From a wiltzworks.com press release. Anthropomorphic animals are often the material of children's books and Disney movies, but Simba Wiltz, author of the newly released novel MainFrame- Beginnings (Xlibris, $19.54, ISBN: 1-4010-2287-1), had very different intentions in the creation of his characters.

As reported in the Washington Post, a man is wanted in Poolesville, Maryland (a town northwest of Washington, D.C.) for abandoning a 10 week old kitten in traffic. The kitten is doing well after being rescued from a sewer into which it fled. A $250 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest, which could earn the perp a $5000 fine and up to three years in jail.

From a National Zoo press release: The Sumatran tiger cub born on September 18 at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park made its public debut December 27 at 11 a.m. At the debut, the 20-pound, three- month old male cub, named Berani (Bahasa Indonesian for brave) was on view for the first time inside the large glass-fronted enclosure opposite the Bat Cave at the Zoo's Great Cats exhibit. His eight-year-old mother, Soyono, is nearby, or with Berani, as she chooses. Berani is still too young to venture out into the outside yards (particularly in cold weather).



Also, on January 10, 2002, the National Zoo will celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Giant Panda Exhibit with Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, followed by Panda Day on January 12.

It's that time of year for all the 'Best of 2001' lists, and the science fiction world is no exception. Locus, the sci-fi industry's major news rag, has a compilation list of the Best SFFH Books of 2001, as compiled from several different sources. Take a look at it, and check out what you'll probably see appearing on next year's Hugo ballot. The New England Science Fiction Association has some suggestions, too.