Anthroverse Vice Chair forced to resign, retract false claims in Mephit Furmeet zoophile coverup.

by Patch O'Furr

Admission of wrongdoing from the top of a furry convention.

It’s rare to see consequences when leaders abuse power. Here’s a result of investigation by Dogpatch Press into networks for animal sex abuse, how zoophiles can use the furry community as a front, and how leaders corruptly hide them. This investigation has expanded across multiple furry conventions, including Mephit Furmeet in Memphis, TN, and overlapping staff at the newly founded Anthroverse in Ohio.

The reporting exposes a decades-long pattern that hasn’t been addressed until recently. The pattern began to emerge in 2025 with community protest about a notorious zoophile spokesperson. (Charles Alexander Berry, AKA “Toggle Rat”). While Mephit Furmeet management looked the other way, Toggle attended for at least 13 years while interacting face-to-face with management, on their stage and in official con promotion.

Further digging led to evidence that zoophiles WERE management, according to staff lists from the convention’s own website.

When the evidence couldn’t be refuted, they tried to smear the reporter to bury it. Mephit Furmeet management spread false rumors to staff in common with other cons. It leaked out when the Vice Chair of Anthroverse openly lied to 120 followers. The attempt to manipulate public trust wasn’t credible, and then Dogpatch Press was vindicated for reporting what they don’t want you to know.

Before we get to the Vice Chair of Anthroverse’s resignation message, let’s review the core cause of it.

False claims about Dogpatch Press weren’t a mistake, they were a deliberate smear narrative.

On June 11, Tanta, the Vice Chair of Anthroverse, posted a statement with 8 lies that was made to push this core narrative:

On June 16, the lies were refuted by Dogpatch Press. This reporter…

  • Was an unpaid interview subject in The Furry Detectives docuseries, who doesn’t work for the producers AMC.
  • Didn’t approach any convention for the docuseries, and Mephit Furmeet can’t back up that claim.
  • Didn’t purchase footage from Mephit Furmeet, and doesn’t purchase footage from anybody at all.
  • Didn’t face any financial effect for doing unpaid interviews or independent reporting.
  • Didn’t have any contact with Mephit Furmeet until being asked to report by the community.
  • Didn’t doxx anyone by reporting official info from the convention’s own website.

This reporting is to serve community interest and animal victims, after being asked to investigate when leaders failed the community and lied for self-service. Smearing this reporter with a “libel” claim was libel itself. They didn’t mix up words or make a mistake while deliberately inventing a smear to cover up.

Now do you see the word “libel”, or any correction of that narrative, in the below excuses about mistakes?

Retraction and resignation by Tanta, Vice Chair of Anthroverse.

Tanta’s retraction discredits their narrative. When she didn’t check sources, and said a docuseries was pulled, but it wasn’t, and they can’t back up false claims about footage that had nothing to do with Dogpatch Press — then the accusation of revenge or “libel” falls apart. The problem is, leaving out that part lets them off with an ignorance excuse for deliberate lying. That’s the main problem here, but there are many more.

Here’s 10 reasons why they’re not being fully and honestly accountable.

Ten failures by Tanta to fully correct the coverup statement.

(1) “There are some things that I would like to address. I need to apologize to everyone. I made some statements recently that I need to correct.”

That’s a good start, except there was NOT an apology to their main smear target. Not here, or in private messages. Dogpatch Press messaged Tanta with many opportunities to respond, and she refuses to reply. Full retraction will be pursued until the libel smear is corrected.

(2) “I apologize for the delay in dealing with this as I was dealing with finals and had a trip out of town.”

The time to deal with this is still counting since June 11, after WEEKS of persistent prompts by Dogpatch Press in private messages, updates on social media, outreach to hotels… and finally, a news update was messaged to Tanta, who posted the excuses 9 MINUTES later to the Anthroverse group she misled. Here’s a leader who told harmful lies, dodged fixing them, and gives excuses about a trip and finals, while STILL not fixing them, or replying to the main target…

(3) “When I made the statements, I was under the impression that the information I had been given was correct. I would like to take the time to –hopefully- correct what I said. My biggest mistake is that I didn’t think to double check my sources.”

Here’s shifting blame to the top, without accountability for lying by Mephit Furmeet management. It plays ignorant about creating a narrative to deliberately smear a reporter. Smearing AND ignoring direct messages AND failing to apologize to the target isn’t just a mistake — and how can you say you failed to check sources after you attacked sources?

(4) “Yes. Dog Patch Press has posted stories regarding Mephit Fur Meet and things that happened long before I was ever a part of it.”

Since at least 2021, the zoophile spokesperson Toggle was identified by public protest towards Mephit Furmeet. Tanta was con staff since 2021, under management that had over 20 years of zoophiles on staff and looking the other way. It started before her, but it also continued while she represented the con.

(5) “Some of this was hard to verify because when an internet search is done, there is one singular source.”

The prior excuse was failing to check sources (plural). Let’s not leave out false claims about The Furry Detectives docuseries that Tanta failed to watch, a fact-checked production with many people interviewed. It wasn’t just internet information, and attacking the sources in the docuseries was meant to attack the docuseries too.

(6) “The information that I had concerning a particular individual was 2/3rds wrong. I fully admit that. I stated that participating in a panel does not make a person a representative of MFM. I admit that I mixed up MFM with “fandom”. However, any attendee can submit a request to host a panel and participate in a panel.”

“2/3rds wrong” isn’t fully admitting. That’s “I’m 100% correct 1/3 of the time.” Tanta wants to minimize this to a wrong word, but keep defending ignorance about the zoophile spokesperson that the public has protested for years. Toggle was not just participating in a panel, he was a 13-year attendee, an officially promoted performer, and in face-to-face contact with the management. They knew, she’s still hiding it, and won’t even name the problem.

(7) “In regard to the docudrama: Again, I should have double checked my information. However, I had checked shortly after the release of the series, and it was not streaming.”

Tanta just didn’t watch the show, and after making false claims that it was about events over 10 years old, is now switching excuses.

(8) MFM footage used in the series was not approved by the directors for use.

Tanta is excusing a dead narrative here. This has nothing to do with Dogpatch Press, who doesn’t work for show producers AMC and has no financial interest in their business. It doesn’t address how Tanta lied that Dogpatch Press purchased footage. This is a non-apology for lying.

(9) It was never my intention to mislead or misinform anyone. I was attempting to clarify some things, and it is 100% on me alone for not doing my due diligence and verifying my information at least one more time.

Is it 100% on Tanta alone? Except she already said “I was under the impression that the information I had been given was correct.” Sources were not overlooked, a deliberate smear was coordinated, which is getting zero accountability for who else did it and why.

(10) I feel as though I have done a disservice to Anthroverse and the community at large. I have chosen to step down as vice chair because you deserve a convention without drama or harassment.

Is animal sex abuse drama, and is it harassment to protest that a zoophile spokesperson they knew was welcome for 13 years? Is it harassment when the public turns to outside reporting because leaders can’t be trusted? If this was honest, the public deserves conventions without corruption or coverup.

CONCLUSION

This reporting isn’t just to pursue retraction. It’s about a climate at the top, of knee-jerk protection for abusers, an expectation to keep problems in the family, the weaponizing of PR to cover up and manipulate trust, and complicity by people who don’t ask questions or check sources. It’s about how problems don’t go away by ignoring them, when corruption goes back to the 1990’s and stayed behind closed doors until now.

Tanta is on the receiving end of a lot of attention that needs to go higher, because of being the one to leak what was happening behind closed doors. She didn’t create the coverup, but while excusing problems before and above her as if they weren’t hers, she was representing the community. When leaders lie this way, how much more reporting will it take to uproot these problems?

It doesn’t end with one person stepping down from one con. Keep your furry ears perked for more reporting.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Bluesky or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)