Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Slightly Furry’s ciders win prizes, but how do you rate their handling of a zoophile owner?

by Patch O'Furr

People love a business run by and for their community. A place that knows you and welcomes your friends, run by people you trust, who answer your concerns.

Seattle’s Slightly Furry cultivated that look for their cider making brand, while reaping support like $73,000 in donations to their for-profit business. It lifted them above fandom by converting popularity into sales, getting their product in stores and bars, with mainstream news and festival prizes.

As Slightly Furry promoted being ambassadors for the furry fandom to the public, watchdogs started raising concerns about shady management that ignored community interest. Initial complaint emerged from ConStaffWatch on July 16, then was reported by professional investigator Naia Ōkami on August 3, after she was banned and censored for trying to engage them for questions. Dogpatch Press also sent questions on August 12, which were knowingly received with no answer, then published a report on August 22.

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2024 Good Furry Award – final week for voting – open until September 30

by Patch O'Furr

Vote HERE for the 6th Annual Good Furry Awards 

See the nominations HERE before you vote. Since 2019, the Good Furry Award has been recognizing fan-nominated furries for outstanding community spirit. It has grown from one award to 4 categories:

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ZOOPHILES FACE JAIL AND FURY: Adam Britton, Lucas VanWoert, and Seattle’s Slightly Furry

by Patch O'Furr

(Content warning.)

Three stories with one cause

It was a major week of news for activists against animal abuse, especially the kind that comes from zoophile networking.

AUSTRALIA: Adam Britton was once a prominent zoologist, but now he’s a convicted serial killer of pet dogs. International media featured Britton’s August 8 sentence to 10 years in jail. Outside the court, activists protested for better animal protection, followed by a unity walk with Kiki’s Justice, an awareness campaign named for one of Britton’s victims. The worldwide shock of the case is documentary-worthy.

OHIO: Britton’s online accomplice was Lucas Vanwoert, a truck driver, furry and dog torture-killer. His wife Heather VanWoert was convicted for participating in the crimes, but released in May after a short sentence. It’s a wake-up call about abusers in the furry community. Many furries oppose abuse, but are troubled by how others enable lovers, friends or business partners involved.

SEATTLE: furry brand Slightly Furry brews cider, runs a taphouse, and has an owner named “Kompy” involved in zoophile networking. Watchdogs aired evidence at the same time as Slightly Furry ran a crowdfund and raised over $73,000 from donors to support their for-profit business. Slightly Furry refuses to respond about Kompy’s corruption — except by censoring and banning people who ask questions. Why do they refuse to explain this to the community, after taking so much support and calling their business an ambassadorship of furry to the general public? What will stop the enabling, after Pacific Northwest furries already faced exposure of a shocking abuse ring?

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Fur & Loathing podcast concludes, expect more Furry True Crime reporting to come

by Patch O'Furr

Listen to Fur and Loathing here.

Here’s a wrap-up for the investigation of the Midwest Furfest 2014 chemical attack, by Nicky Woolf with help from Dogpatch Press. For the last episode, we recorded discussion of these points (although not all made the final cut…)

  • Being a community under attack.
  • The limits of the justice system, and how people can get away with crime, even if we know it.
  • The need for community protection from inside.
  • It can also take resources and reach we don’t have by partnership with outside help.
  • Without public awareness and being fully informed, negligence can cause more harm.
  • How different could things be if we had more transparency 10 years ago?

REVIEW: “Fur and Loathing is so fucking good.” – Podcast Promise

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How to join San Francisco Pride 2024 with the Northern California Furries

by Patch O'Furr

For members who completed an RSVP

Photo by Heather

The San Francisco Pride Parade is Sunday, June 30, 2024 — General info at SFpride.org

The biggest outdoor furry event of the year is back for Northern California. Don’t miss this huge party and statement of progress for LGBT people and allies. ABC7 will broadcast the parade to watch from home, while hundreds of thousands of people line the street from 10:30 a.m. until late afternoon.

The NorCal Furries will march on Market Street, for a mile to the end near the Celebration area at Civic Center. Over 200 are expected to come and be loved more than ever, after being shortlisted for a Best Contingent award last year. They have been in the parade for over 20 years (see the Pride tag). This year they have an after-party at their own club for the first time. Here’s how to participate!

JOINING THE GROUP — RSVP here

If you don’t RSVP, you can’t be guaranteed a spot and may be turned away, so join now!

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Furry Studies academic conference to launch October 18, 2024 in Rotterdam, Netherlands

by Patch O'Furr

Dutch furry fandom is spawning the Otterdam Furry Arts Festival, a public event celebrating furry culture and art. Part of the festival is a conference to connect academics, researchers, and community members for multi-field learning and presenting. It will happen physically and online, and you don’t have to be professional to contribute.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS — send proposals for work you can present at the event or online — DEADLINE IS JUNE 24, 2024

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Fur And Loathing podcast: Exclusive bonus video with listener questions, Hazmat expert doc.

by Patch O'Furr

The first four episodes of Fur and Loathing are HERE (six episodes are coming out weekly.)

Before Episode 5 comes out, here’s a surprise bonus episode. This mid-series break is making time for the investigation team to develop new leads that emerged after the series began.

Patch interviews Nicky, and pitches him listener questions about investigating the 2014 Midwest Furfest chemical attack. This Dogpatch Press exclusive video is 20 minutes longer than the official half hour audio edit published everywhere else. (In the extra run time, you can hear about another attempt to disrupt the con… Video transcript below).

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The Crying Nazifur: Swatting and career loss makes Casey Hoerth regret his Altfurry hate group.

by Patch O'Furr

On Youtube, founder of Altfurry admits it was for “Radicalizing mentally unstable people” — leading to swatting each other — Video below.

Casey “Len Gilbert” Hoerth lives with his parents in Texas, and used to be a freelance financial blogger for mainstream sites. It was the closest thing he had to a real job or creative outlet, despite trying to publish an embarrassing erotic furry Nazi novel called The Furred Reich.

Casey’s fandom for 1940’s Nazi Germany would lead him to fall in love with modern neo-nazis. This fueled his ambition to use furry fandom as a doormat for alt-right hate politics. While supporting friends at the deadly torchlight Unite The Right riot in 2017, Casey gathered fellow trolls in a fringe of hate groups called Altfurry. His plan was to groom new recruits with redpilling for “revenge based guerilla tactics.”

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Fur And Loathing podcast episode 3 names suspects in Midwest Furfest 2014 chemical attack

by Patch O'Furr

COMING SOON: Exclusive Q&A with show host Nicky Woolf. Message @patchofurr on Telegram to join.

May 20, 2024: The third episode of Fur and Loathing is HERE (six episodes are coming out weekly.)

This Furry True Crime podcast series is a lavishly produced investigation into the unsolved 2014 chemical attack on Midwest Furfest. Episodes 1 and 2 covered the crime and scene. It promised exclusive never-reported news. Here it is in episode 3. Names are named.

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San Francisco Pride 2024 is coming, Northern California Furries need volunteers and funding

by Patch O'Furr

RSVP HERE to join the Norcal Furries in the 54th Annual San Francisco Pride Beacon of Love Parade.

On Sunday, June 30th, 2024, supporters for queer history and liberation will pack the city. It will be an amazing day for street fursuiting with a roaring crowd. Furries have over 20 years of fierceness in the parade, and last year we were runners-up for the Best Contingent award. This year we’re reaching even higher.

NEW private club party for furries!

For the first time, we have an entire club reserved for our own afterparty! The club can hold 400 and is walkable from the start and end of the parade.

Volunteers urgently needed, can you help? 

The NorCal Furries bring 100-200 members led by a small team of volunteers. We can’t do it without you. Volunteering is a good introduction for newcomers, and it’s low effort and just as fun in the parade. We need to keep asking until enough heroes raise their paws, and it has to happen early. Contacts below, PLEASE REACH OUT!

Can you help another way? DONATING IS LOVE.

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