Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: Mainstream

April 21, 2026

¿Que son los Therian? A viral trend on Spanish-speaking media brings echoes of culture war.

by Dogpatch Press Staff

Guest writer Kamen the Lycanroc has covered NYFurs events, and now looks at world news about Therians, the subset of Otherkin identity.

Screenshot of the Tiktok page Fox_cor, which has become a prominent video used in Latin American headlines.

Therians become a viral trend in Latin America, for better or worse.

“Are you a therian?” A boy from Spain came up and asked EberraWolf, a fellow furry news reporter, as NYCFurwalk hosted their 12th walk through the financial district of New York City. This question not only puzzled the tourists, it took Spanish-speaking countries by storm.

The first notice started with a news profile about a therian Tiktok user named Lexi from Argentina, and turned into a viral topic across Latin America. Therians went from appearing on gossip TV shows in Argentina for a laugh, to an amalgamation of AI-generated videos, false rumors, and memes all over Spanish-speaking social media, with furries getting in on it for better or worse.

Therians became a viral trend in Latin America around the middle of February 2026, with Google trends showing a major increase in searches for therians and other related topics in the region. Spanish articles, videos, and reports are what appeared first on Google searches even in North America. While English-speaking Youtube results of the search term “Therian” brings up Tiktok re-uploads, Spanish-speaking search results bring out news reports and videos in news sources from Mexico to Chile.

For example, El Heraldo De Mexico, a Mexican newspaper, published several videos and YouTube shorts about therians in the span of three weeks, with video titles claiming “They bite children, fight with dogs, and they go to the veterinarian! The very controversial case of Therians!”

While it has remained mostly a trend on social media, it did not take long to escalate. Spanish-speaking sites became filled with AI-generated posters promoting “Therian meetups” in prominent cities in Spain and Latin America. AI-generated videos and images also spread of “Therian Rights protests”, such as a video from a Dominican Republic news channel showcasing dogs attacking Therians at a protest. It only takes a short look to see inconsistencies such as the signs having different languages and the Washington Monument appearing in the background. Rumors have gotten so bad that there was a false news story about a Therian being set on fire in Guatemala.

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March 13, 2026

Furries in the Epstein Files? Search brings up narratives where we fail to tell the full truth.

by Patch O'Furr

News in a moment: but first, recommended background for the Epstein story.

The Epstein files represent a major coverup of crime by wealthy elites, broken open as an ongoing public scandal. It keeps exposing worse and worse associations with dead financier Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a story of rich pedophiles and their enablers, including Donald Trump. Do you feel lost about where it starts and ends? Try this episode of radio show This Is Hell for an interview with an award-winning journalist who wrote a book about the coverup. It’s packed with fresh, conversational analysis to help you catch up.

Furries in the files?

In 2019, Epstein’s alleged suicide in jail silenced him from having to testify about powerful friends. It couldn’t silence demands for the government to finally release documents of official investigation… partially and controversially so far. With over 3.5 million pages released as of March 2026 (and who knows how much more to come), you can search for any term in them and possibly get results.

What happens if you search for “furry” or “furries”? Dogpatch Press did this on February 14, before a completely separate effort by fellow furry reporter Sonious published on March 8. You should go read Sonious’ article that propels this one.

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March 10, 2026

Ebay has a $16,000 shirt from Confurence Zero, and we have questions for the seller

by Patch O'Furr

This shirt is one of a kind and 16 grand. If it sells, the seller will have 17 kittens.

Vintage graphic t-shirts from the 1960’s-90’s routinely sell for hundreds or a few thousand dollars. Old fans might want to check their closets, because Ebay has some with furry graphics, like a $300 Cutey Bunny shirt from 1983. Then there’s this eye-poppingly iconic treasure:

Ultra Rare ConFurence Zero Event Shirt! Furry Convention Shirt!

This is an extremely rare event shirt for what was the World’s first Furry convention. It was Hosted in a venue in Costa Mesa, California in January 21-22 of 1989, and only 65 people attended. The event itself was more of a pre-convention, to see if anyone was interested in attending such events. As a result of being the world’s first exclusive Furry con, and with such low attendance, any sort of merch from the event is incredibly rare.

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November 14, 2025

Furry Studies conference gathers worldwide wisdom at second annual event

by Patch O'Furr

The annual Furry Studies academic conference is a multi-field brain-food buffet. Their first event launched in October 2024 as part of a furry arts festival in the Netherlands. It featured scholarship, presentations, and celebration for international authors, researchers, and fans. The second Furry Studies conference happened on Halloween 2025 in Tacoma, WA, and was also virtual to join from wherever you are. They will soon start planning for the 2026 conference. To get future info about how to attend, participate or collaborate, follow them here: https://furrystudies.org/

Here’s an interview about what the conference offers. Many presenters give academic talks about a variety of furry-centric topics. For Dogpatch Press, Patch and Zeldstarro discussed the event with key organizers Spaxe and Jack Newhorse, as well as Hazel, who is the director of gender, sexuality, and race studies at the 2025 host venue, Pacific Lutheran University.

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August 8, 2025

Two years of anti-zoophile community moderation: Heika’s work with Laelaps on Bluesky

by Patch O'Furr

Founder heikadog

In Greek mythology, Laelaps is a dog that never fails to catch what it is hunting.

On Bluesky, tens of thousands of users use the Laelaps anti-zoophile labeler. This volunteer-run project collects evidence of animal abusers and enablers, publishes a list, and shows a label on listed accounts so you’re informed before interacting. A labeler utilizes third-party moderation service, hooked up to Bluesky features that help you choose how to use the platform. It lets you actively curate rather than passively consume what you’re fed.

This is their second anniversary of launching a list, their first anniversary of integrating third-party labeler service, and now the public evidence is just reorganized with its sub-categories for refined use. You can support it with ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/laelapsfyi

Laelaps started with a small team of furries and now reaches people from all walks of life. It sets a standard for community moderation that any group can follow. Founder heikadog (aka Heika, they/them) was interviewed by Dogpatch Press about the mission, methods, history, and impact of the internet’s most successful project in its niche. They say furries run the internet, and here’s more proof.

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July 9, 2025

Preview The Furry Detectives docuseries, and learn how reporting emerged against backlash

by Patch O'Furr

Full series out July 17. The first 12 minutes of the first episode:

The Furry Detectives docuseries — The story they don’t want told, emerging against 7 years of backlash and interference.

Coming on AMC+: this 4-episode series introduces furries who investigated the 2018 zoosadist leaks. (More summary of the leaks.)

The leaks exposed evidence of deep-rooted, ongoing animal abuse networks in the community. They use furry as a cover, for organizing that isn’t easily dismissed with “anyone can be a furry, we can’t gatekeep it” disclaimers. Half of the truth is that abuse happens in any community — and internet tech and platforms are big factors not fully in our power — but the whole truth is that this behavior is uniquely among us in real-life organized ways seen nowhere else. It’s nobody else’s problem when our groups are run by and for us.

Making our own destiny is how fandom works at its best. However before the show releases, it’s catching some backlash for airing problems that the community didn’t properly deal with for 7 years. It’s like some people want things brushed under the rug so ignoring it can make it worse. That behavior was always holding back investigation over 7 years while publishing tens of thousands of words of reporting at Dogpatch Press.

There was a lot of generous team work as well, but some of the most counterproductive behavior was not just from incuriosity and denialism, putting optics over solutions, or random bad actors… Most alarmingly, there’s also corruption from influence at the top.

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July 5, 2025

Newsdump: Room Party art show during Anthrocon, furries on NPR, public image in the media

by Patch O'Furr

Happening now: Anthrocon and Room Party show at Bunker Projects, 5106 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh

Anthrocon has competitors for the world’s biggest furry convention, but is unsurpassed in other ways. Their street parade is a wonder of the furry world, uniquely partnered with Pittsburgh and swarmed by cheering residents on a blocked off city street.

Fursuiters make public image by flaunting millions in art at such events, but it’s also about the artists. They’re enjoying how Pittsburgh welcomes furries like nowhere else, with their own art show at a gallery apart from the con.

SEE ROOM PARTY: http://room-party.com. The show has a 6-week run with film screenings, workshops, and informal art-making gatherings. Curators include Brett Hanover (previously in furry news with his movie Rukus.) Brett sent info:

Room Party is the first-ever large-scale group exhibition of contemporary and experimental furry art, featuring over 50 artists working in drawing and painting, comics, photography, installation, video, and new media. Curated by furry artists Lane Lincecum, Brett Hanover, Cass Dickenson, and Paul Peng, Room Party takes its name from the unofficial hotel room parties held during conventions—embodied virtual realities where furries try on unimagined identities, invent new sexualities and artistic expressions, and discover alternative ways of being known. Room Party brings the love and creativity of these events to Pittsburgh’s Bunker Projects, putting furry artists in conversation with the fine art world, the broader queer community, and the contemporary moment.

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April 22, 2025

The Furry Detectives: Unmasking a Monster – TV docuseries investigates the 2018 Zoosadist leaks

by Patch O'Furr

Furry True Crime is a genre

In 2024, the Fur and Loathing podcast came out with Guardian journalist Nicky Woolf and Dogpatch Press. The show investigated the Midwest Furfest 2014 chemical attack, based on previously unseen FBI documents and interviews across 4 states. Apple Podcasts gives it a 4.5 star rating, and it has 4.8 from critics, who call it “made with deep reverence and contribution from maligned, largely disenfranchised communities… I think Fur and Loathing is pretty much exactly what I want in true crime.” – Podcast Promise.

Those are results to keep in mind when expecting another Furry True Crime show on the way. They make 2 examples of this suddenly-a-genre (and there’s a third one coming later.) Other kinds of documentary may raise less eyebrows, but these examples aren’t fur-sploitation or salacious tragedy porn. Sorry, the mainstream already makes too much trashy stuff for weirdos who aren’t furries, go find it somewhere else…

Here you’ll find intensely curious investigations for smart people who care about problems and solutions. They feature experiences within the community, made with members, using pro resources to tell deeper stories than can be told without their combined forces. Socially responsible true crime media exists, and we’re already in it.

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March 27, 2025

Lone Star Fur Con brings gritty and hopeful weirdness to Austin

by Dogpatch Press Staff

Collaborative guest post submitted by Ash and edited by Patch O’Furr. Ash is a bunny, propagandist, and performance artist in Austin, TX. After you read, please vote for the Ursa Major Awards for the best furry creations of last year. Please consider the Fur And Loathing podcast for Nonfiction, featuring investigation by Dogpatch Press.

Extreme times

Lone Star Fur Con picked the right place for a furry convention. Austin has always been a haven for the freaks and weirdos of Texas. The timing is a little bit less than ideal, because furries are now in the crosshairs of reactionaries in the state government.

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February 21, 2025

How to love the freedom of leaderless fandom, and fight the flipside of organized abuse

by Patch O'Furr

 

Do you know the story where several blind people try to describe an elephant by only touching small parts of it? Nobody can say what the whole animal is.

That happens when furry subculture talks about itself, because of how it’s built. The whole thing is a series of bubbles that don’t see each other, in peer-to-peer horizontal structure. Their limited views go with a longstanding habit of reacting against outside stereotypes by falling into their own: The Geek Social Fallacies.

Fallacies can be actively overcome. Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power. If you don’t like the media, Be The Media. That’s the mission at Dogpatch Press, to tell the full story warts and all, and own it from inside — before outsiders tell it for you — but there’s always resistance. The subculture keeps stubborn blind spots. Many stories are too inside for professionals to investigate, but hobbyists lack the resources, especially when they explore problems that demand action that people don’t want to take. Difficult, costly, critical stories are the ones that stay overlooked, underreported, and suppressed. Nobody is immune to the psychology of denying uncomfortable knowledge. This is how you get too much shallow drama between peer-to-peer individuals, but too little intensive research with wider scope.

You may say the solution is showing more of the positive; but that’s not seeing the whole elephant.

It’s important to do the difficult work of telling the full range of human experience within, and maturely accept a place in society, not apart from it. The more we know, the more it empowers people to do better. This is a challenge always lagging behind the way this community grows.

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