March 2003
Snow leopards seized from circus
Posted by Anon on Sat 1 Mar 2003 - 17:01Two snow leopards have been seized in a travelling Russian circus in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan in central Asia. Full story on BBC.
Jab Archives now selling Portfolios.
Posted by Anon on Sun 2 Mar 2003 - 11:24For those of you who can't get enough of 'Toon Smut Parody' style artwork the Jab Archives will be back up and running soon. They are selling a portfolio of original art as a fundraiser. Six artists in colour and B/W.
James M. Hardiman
Desiree Lee
Joe Randal
Valley Kyrie
Max Black Rabbit
gNAW
The site won't go back up unless they can sell enough to cover the yearly costs. Go to
www.jabarchives.com for more information, but hurry, only 300 will be printed!!!
Midwest FurFest 2003 Announces Guests of Honor
Posted by Aureth on Sun 2 Mar 2003 - 18:03Midwest FurFest is pleased to announce its Guest of Honor lineup for 2003!
First off, we have the talented cartoonist Thomas Dye. Thomas is the writer and artist for Newshounds, an online comic strip which can be found at http://www.newshounds.com. Thomas has been cartooning in one form or another since 1991, and we at Midwest FurFest are excited to bring his talent and experience to our convention.
Next up, we have M.C.A. 'Micah' Hogarth. Two of her pencil scribbles appeared in the first issue of Yarf! in 1990. Since then, she's sold stories and art to
magazines as varied as Pangaia, Strange Horizons and the World Tree RPG. Her articles on writing have appeared in venues like Speculations, and her work has provided templates for costume designers and tattoo artists.. Further examples of her work can be found at http://www.stardancer.org.
Midwest FurFest has a long-standing tradition of promoting talent with roots in the Midwest. This year, we have Jeff 'Dbruin' Beedon as our local Guest of Honor. Jeff is a talented illustrator and designer. His work has appeared in past issues of the MFF conbook, as well as on our convention t-shirt last year. Further examples of his work can be found at http://www.furnation.com/deviant/TheDenL.htm.
All three of our Guests bring something unique to Midwest FurFest. We're excited about MFF 2003, and hope to see you all here in Chicago in November! For more information, keep an eye on our website at http://www.furfest.org.
How would you like your Leopard served? Rare, Medium or Well Done??
Posted by Draconis on Mon 3 Mar 2003 - 14:17The taste for different meats is sometimes a product of different cultures. The consuming of a certain animal will give you certain powers. This is a product of living and being brought up a certain why. I bring this up as while turning on CNN on TV I caught a partial story about the consuming of Leopard meat. I have heard of people eating both Lion and Cougar meat in the past so I did a web search on CNN.com on this story to find out the whole story.
New fantasy cat novel series
Posted by Fred on Mon 3 Mar 2003 - 14:25A new fantasy adventure series featuring feral cats began publication in January with "Warriors: Book 1, Into the Wild", by Erin Hunter. HarperCollins, 272 pages, $15.99. "Warriors: Book 2, Fire and Ice", is scheduled for June 2003. Readers who enjoyed "Tailchaser's Song" by Tad Williams and "The Wild Road" by Gabriel King should like these.
Megaplex Convention Update!
Posted by Draconis on Tue 4 Mar 2003 - 09:06Well, we've been asked what attendees to the Second Annual Megaplex will be in store for, and finally, here's a quick list of the events and such that we have planned! There is still time to reserve a room as the room block has been extended to March 17th!
Mascots bring good cheer for hard work
Posted by MelSkunk on Tue 4 Mar 2003 - 11:30Mascoting is a hard, hot job, and yet another article is choosing to profile it, though unusually it's female sports mascoters under the fur. Tales of nearly fainting, crowd hazing, and the fun they have bringing school spirit insue. And, as one mother of a mascoter noted, “Mascots are like big, stuffed animals. Who doesn’t like stuffed animals?” Who doesn't, indeed!
The lynx hunt must stop in Norway, says WWF
Posted by MelSkunk on Tue 4 Mar 2003 - 11:30Though lynx populations have dropped from about 600 in 1996 to no more than 350 now, the annual lynx hunt is still set at 85 animals, including females and cubs. Norway's hunting tactics need to change, says the WWF, noting that the annual wolf cull in 2001 halved the living wolf population in the country, and the lynx hunt is getting close to the same numbers, making extinction in the region inevitable.
This Blood-bank is for the Dogs...
Posted by Cordite on Tue 4 Mar 2003 - 18:47The Animal Lovers Group of Bangkok, Thailand, has established a blood bank to assist the city's estimated 300,000 stray dogs.
"The group plans a blood drive on March 9 at a Buddhist temple. It is storing the blood in refrigerators to supply two private animal hospitals when needed. "
Pair of servals roam residential Seattle
Posted by GeneBreshears on Wed 5 Mar 2003 - 14:24The Seattle P-I reported that two adult servals, de-clawed and litter box trained, were found roaming in north Seattle about two weeks ago. There's a nice picture in the article from Feb. 22, and another picture from today's front page.
Black a lucky colour for cats
Posted by MelSkunk on Wed 5 Mar 2003 - 14:48Usually, being an odd colour is bad news in the animal kingdom, but for some cats, such as jaguars and leopards, being melanistic seems to be a good idea.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the University of Maryland think studying jaguars and how the gene that regulates the colour of their fur might also change other aspects of their body, such as possibly making them more resistant to disease. Making wild black cats very lucky indeed!
Of course, this doesn't explain why some big cats, like lions and tigers, don't have a melanistic phase. Except, of course, in furry fandom!
