Furries in the Squamish Chief

Two mentions of furries in The Squamish Chief newspaper (of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada), highlighting the need for fursuiters to think carefully when interacting with the public...


First, in the Police Briefs section of June 4:
http://www.squamishchief.com/news/local-news/police-briefs-1.1957645

Suspicious activity

Two adults dressed in “furry” fox costumes were approaching young children at Stan Clarke Park on Friday, May 29, police report. When one of the characters offered a young girl a piggyback ride, the mother of the girl became uncomfortable and took her daughter away, according to police. She reported the incident to police the next day.

Police say suspicious activities such as this should be reported to police as soon as possible.

And a follow-up reply letter in the June 17 edition:
http://www.squamishchief.com/opinion/letters/letter-furries-nothing-to-fear-1.1971452

LETTER: "Furries" nothing to fear

To the concerned parent(s): Regarding the “suspicious activity by two adults dressed in furry fox costumes” approaching young children at Stan Clarke Park on Friday, May 29, my friend and I were the furry mascots in the park.

We were enjoying a fun day walking amongst the public, up and down Cleveland Avenue, in our costumes. We had our pictures taken with numerous people on Cleveland Avenue and at Stan Clarke Park. Two police officers approached us to have their photos taken with us at Stan Clarke Park.

I grew up in Squamish and am now a university student. There are many others like me who enjoy wearing our custom-made furry costumes in public and attending conventions and parades and other activities.

We mean no harm to the public and certainly not to children. In fact, small children get a kick out of us and were doing so on Friday.

We were at all times in full view of the childrens’ parents.

I can understand any parent’s concern for the safety of his or her child; had one of those parents approached us directly to say they were uncomfortable with what we were doing, we would have moved on immediately. No one did. In fact, the kids were all having a great time. As far as we could tell, so were their parents.

I’m sorry if our actions that day made anyone feel uncomfortable. That was not our intention.

Felix (Alex) McEachran

Squamish