Dogged by Controversy!

Posted November 24, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, animal oddities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furry, furry art, humor

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– – No, they haven’t found the Dogman of Wisconsin…it’s just some Australian art turning heads and uniting playfulness with an edgy sexual content.

The exhibition titled “Returning to the Animal Within” is by Marc and Gillie Schattner of Sydney, and features 20 paintings and five sculptures of dog-headed humans at play and in repose.  The sculpture pictured titled “Good Boy” shows that canine-human chimeras also enjoy a good cup of coffee, but its anatomical correctness resulted in police investigating an obscenity charge.

An upcoming sculpture depicts a dog-man in a suit stooping to pick up his own poop; a good example, and environmentally responsible!- -‘Mutt or smut?–You decide!

Furry Superhero Spotted!

Posted November 22, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: cool things, furry, furry heroes

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– – Our last best hope against Bad Kitty,  Powercat was recently spotted soaring high over my area, and I consider myself fortunate to have captured one of the few known images of this mysterious and powerful but elusive hero…

…at some point in the future, Powercat and the evil mastermind, Tiger (aka Bad Kitty posted about previously) will probably tangle in a battle royal expected to lay waste to much of civilization as we know it…imagine the encounter!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Powercat:  (flying in) “I’ve come fur ‘ya, Bad Kitty!”

Tiger:  “Powercat!–DAMN!”

Powercat:  “Nothing beats my kung fu, Bad Kitty!”

Tiger:  “Not even my radioactive hairballs?  (hacks one up)—AHAHAHAHAHA!”

Powercat:  “Gasp!–Weakening…Uhhh!”  (collapses)

Tiger:  “Join me, Powercat!–Don’t make me destroy you!”

Powercat:  “Never!”

Tiger:  “Powercat…I… AM… YOUR FATHER!”

Powercat:  (screams)  “NOOOOOOOO!”

(fade to black with Powercat prone on the ground and Bad Kitty laughing demonically…)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

…Well, isn’t this a stinky litter box?…Is a real cat-aclysm to follow?!–-Join us next time on Foxsylvania!!!

Bad Kitty!

Posted November 20, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, furry, furry heroes

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– -I, for one, would not care to run afoul of this cat…he looks like an evil feline mastermind, or something that a Harry Potter villain might morph into!

…appearing like something out of a Stephen King novel, the cat, appropriately named Tiger, has reportedly inflicted “nasty injuries” upon postal delivery personnel in a small town called Farsley in Northern England.   Royal Mail has announced that they will no longer deliver mail to the home of Tiger’s owner…they apparently are not adept at dealing with cases of feline demonic possession.

By the way, the cat is 19-years-old, which is 92 in human years…but I still don’t recommend disrespecting him!   Do so at your own peril…total global domination is this feline’s goal!

(…Upcoming:  our last best hope!)

Great Gonads!

Posted November 18, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, animals, insects, research

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(Warning:  Some Mature content)

– –We all know the appeal of big balls, although I’ve never had to use the ballroom dancing classes my parents required me to take.  The Fox Trot came quite naturally to me, although I’ve never been prevailed upon to do the Waltz or even the Cha Cha…but enough of my ballroom notoriety…

In the animal kingdom, a species of cricket, the tuberous bushcricket (Platycleis affinis)  has been found to have, as AC/DC might sing, “…the biggest balls of them all,” testes that amount to 13.8 percent of its body mass!  This would be the rough equivalent of a human male hauling around testicles that weigh 22 pounds!  I don’t know what this would translate to in foxes, but they’d probably be pretty impressive…

It is thought that the extra large testes in bushcrickets (also known in North America as katydids) allow males to mate repeatedly without their sperm reserves being exhausted…to say nothing of their bragging rights!

The research appears in “Biology Letters,” a journal of Britain’s Royal Society…(heh, and you thought they were stuffy!)

…and AC/DC rocks!–Woo!

Wildlife Conservation Officer Slain

Posted November 16, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: conservation, environmental, historical perspectives

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– – People tend to think that being a game warden is a fairly tame job; not necessarily so.  When a Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer recently caught a felon illegally night hunting deer with a spotlight and pulled over the poacher’s truck, a ferocious  exchange of gunfire ensued that killed the officer and left the later-captured suspect wounded.  David Grove became the first game warden killed in the line of duty in PA since 1915.

Poaching is a crime which sadly continues in the 21st century, and game officers, usually working by themselves, must routinely investigate men who are armed, and usually  better armed than the officers.   While game lands can be beautiful places used to enjoy nature, after dark wildlife conservation officers can find drinking parties, drug sales, and people that are knowingly breaking the law.

About 1.5 million acres are under the jurisdiction of game commission officers in Pennsylvania, an area nearly the size of Delaware…

Real Piggy Banks…

Posted November 14, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, strange, strange happenings, things humans do, weird

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– – How would you like a piggy bank made from a real piggy?–No, I wouldn’t, either…

They are for sale, however, from a novelty retailer out of Vancouver, British Columbia;  yes, taxidermied piglet piggy banks for a mere $4,000 each!  Production costs are high for the item, with the taxidermy process alone taking six months.  The piglets used have actually died of natural causes.

Animal activists have called the piglet banks, “a particularly callous and demeaning exploitation of a baby animal’s dead body.”  Although no pigs are killed to make the piglet banks, the co-owner of the Canadian novelty retail establishment which has been brought much publicity feels that the real argument would seem to be about taxidermy and whether preserving animals for aesthetic appeal is ethical.

There is unquestionably value in taxidermy to the extent that it has allowed for rare and extinct animals to be displayed and studied; I personally find the display of hacked-off animal parts to be gruesome and repugnant, however…


News and Weather You Can Bear…

Posted November 12, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, animal oddities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, furry stories, strange happenings, television

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– – Talk about guerilla theater! Earlier this month during a live newscast tracking the progress of Hurricane Ike that showed the wave-lashed beach off Galveston, Texas the on-site weatherman had to cope with the unexpected appearance behind him of…an anthropomorphic bear!

In a surreal moment worthy of the best of Trigger-Happy TV, the bear-costumed figure moved with grace and agility behind the weatherman, seemingly unconcerned about the rough seas and striking a pose or two for the viewing audience.  The befuddled newscaster, his thunder utterly stolen, could think of nothing better to do other than to shift the camera to a view of a battered pier…all the while kinda pretending that the bear’s antics were not going on!

…caught by surprise by a furry, it was a moment to live for!

Wild On The Streets!

Posted November 10, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animals

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– – More than one million Americans annually will hit a deer with their car, and the odds of doing so have gone up 21% in the past five years as the deer population has increased.

Nationally, your odds of striking a deer with your vehicle are 1 in 183, with West Virginia the most likely state for such a mishap with odds of 1 in 42.  Hawaii is the state where you are least likely to strike a deer, with the odds being only 1 in 13,000.

About three in four collisions between cars and animals involve deer, and the annual human death toll from such accidents is about 140.  Such deaths aren’t usually a direct result of hitting the animal, but rather it’s the secondary impact with another vehicle or going off the road that proves fatal. It’s usually curtains for the deer as well.

While deer are the biggest problem, they aren’t the only road hazard, with feral hogs proving a growing problem and lending new meaning to the term, “road hog!”

Another Naked Ape…

Posted November 8, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, rare animal

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– – Don’t look, Ethel! Humans have been referred to as “the naked ape” by Desmond Morris among others, and here we present something unusual; a naked chimpanzee.

Guru, the naked 20-year-old chimp at India’s Mysore Zoo, lost all of his hair to alopecia, a condition that also affects humans.  Although he’s undergone treatment, nothing so far has helped him grow hair.  Chimpanzees are very accepting of hairless chimps, however, and actually seem more accepting of physical differences than many humans are.

Another lesson that the animal kingdom may teach homo sapiens!

Art Influencing Life

Posted November 6, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal abuse, animal occurrences, animals, endangered species, strange happenings

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– – J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels have popularized owls, which is a bad thing to the extent that fans of the young wizard and his owl Hedwig have been buying endangered owls from illegal bird traders!

This has been a problem in such countries as India, where the environment minister revealed that a recent report details that nearly half of India’s 30 species of owls can be found on sale at markets.  In addition to their Harry Potter appeal, people also buy the owls for medicinal purposes and for sacrifice in some Hindu festivals.

In the Harry Potter novels, owls are used as a form of communication, carrying important messages…