London

I'm very interested in dressing up in my furs and joining a group. Thought about it for years, now out of hibernation I'm free to roam and play. Where can I go? Please let me know

This is all stupid. I myself am a furry yet i do not get excited off someone dressed in fur. I agree some people may do but this stupid artical had not put the other side of furries across it hasnt once mentioned that some furries are just people that appreciate Anthropomorphic charcters. Nor the fact that there are thousands of members of the furry society that do not enjoy yiffing. Before anyone swallows all of this they should look at other sites maybe from a furry point of view and see that we are not all sick sex crazed furverts

Interesting. What I want to know is where exactly the Yififing takes place? Can't exactly suit up at home and go looking for it in a couple of West-end bars now, can I?

wow.
some people are just way too uptight. this is entertaining and interesting reading and i think some of you need to have a humour injection. and that's not an innuendo.
jeeeeez!

Wow.
An incident of 'indecent behaviour' between two consenting adult individuals (if it really happened) in what was probably a dark corner of licensed premises after they have had a few.
Is this really a story? People do tend to have sex. They have been doing so for quite a long time. I'm sure you could find 'indecent activities' in dark corners of a few establishments in London...
Exactly who's the pervert here? Someone doing something slightly inappropriate, or someone who's infiltrated a private gathering having told a load of lies on a social web site, in search of the one mildly sensational story among a lot of pretty ordinary (albeit in some cases eccentrically dressed) stuff.
You have proved the old adage of "Never trust a journalist." There are a very few 'public interest' cases where investigative journalism is warranted. Seeking cheap thrills by lying your way into a private gathering isn't one of them. I'd have expected better of Time Out.
And I think the 'yiff parties' someone told you about exist more in their imagination than for real. I think they were having you on. Hardly "unequivocal evidence".
Grow Up.

Because you'd never see anything rude in certain gay bars or fetish clubs, and it's not as if pretty much every weekend in every town is about going out to get pissed and get laid...no siree, it's just us furries who are the degenerates. Mr Allen has obviously never had a drunken shag in an alley or the back of a car, he's pure and innocent. Once a week, missionary position and a nice cup of tea afterwards, maybe the Times crossword. Sheesh. Folks like different things, from dressing up as animals to getting decked out in rubber and spanked. Who cares, beyond people with zero imagination, the Daily Mirror or "guerilla" comedians infiltrating a subculture (by turning up?) for cheap laughs when it's already been done to death? People shouldn't be doing rude things at the meets, and it IS frowned upon, but behind closed doors, who cares? I'm fairly certain that fuzzy critters copping off with each other is one of the more tame things going on behind the curtains of suburbia.

I think the thing a lot of people object to is the assumption that the sexual side to the fandom revolves entirely around fursuits. Whilst there are quite a few furries who like everything (from relatively tame drawings to full-on fursuit sex), not everyone who likes the thought of, say, a big, buff wolf having his wicked way with them necessarily likes the idea or reality of having sex in a fursuit.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying even a majority of furries are innocents who just like anthropomorphic animals, but there is a substantial section of the fandom who just like the art, stories, etc. (whether adult in nature or not), without wanting to suit up in whatever capacity. There is a relatively large minority of the fandom who do dress up in suits, and a minority of them might have sex in those suits, but not all perverted furries do. There's a wealth of art, writing, and other media out there to cover, and I think one reason why a lot of furs get frustrated with a lot of the media coverage directed at them is that it does focus pretty exclusively on fursuiting in general, as opposed to everything else that goes on.
To be honest, I like the art, the stories, and I find fursuits cute (wouldn't shag one though). However, I myself go to meets and seek out the company of other furs not for sex, but because I've made a lot of friends and enjoy the company of a bunch of geeks of a weekend.
Oh, and Mark, where on earth did you see the hedgehog hand-relief happen at a London Meet? I believe was at the particular meet you mention, and I didn't witness this event, it would also be a rather massive contravention of the rules drawn up for the meets, which do explicitly state that no inappropriate behaviour take place. Given the meets are in a pub just near Blackfriar's tube, and given the public nature of the place, I doubt this happened, or at least your interpretation of what you saw. I know only one person who has a hedgehog fursuit and who lives in London, and I doubt he would do this in public.
Please feel free to correct me.
Rugbywolf (or Olly)

I agree. Although the major major majority don't yiff around, there are some that do and we can't hide that. Yes, so what if a lot of non-furs and anti-furs point it out a lot, or make assumptions and prejudices - we are furries, we know what each individual does and doesn't do. We should be proud of ourselves for standing up for the fandom. And I think Mr. Allen here has done a good job reporting on the strange bits - and putting forth the message that it's only a tiny percentage of furries that do those things. Well done :D

As the author of this article, I thought I'd respond to your comments.
You're absolutely right to question what research I have done into the furries other than Googling them and I'd like to assure you that the fact I haven't listed my sources is more of an issue of word count rather than any lack of research on my part. To clear things up, I'll give you a small window into my research...
In December 2007 I started writing my comedy show Pet Project. When I heard about the furries, I looked online and found the ukfur forums. I registered an account and started asking a few questions to find out a bit more about what makes them tick. I didn't stop there though.
In February 2008 I found out that a group called the London Furs hold regular meetings in Blackfriars, so I decided to go along to one of them dressed as a giant dog. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time.
While I was at the meet, I chatted to a lot of furs - including one called Mr Wolf, who was wearing a yiffing suit (thankfully with shorts covering the saucy bits) and he told me about the regular yiff parties he attended, hosted by a polar bear in Reading. That was pretty unequivocal evidence of yiffing as it was, but when I also witnessed someone receiving hand relief from a hedgehog at the same event, it was pretty clear-cut. It was also time for me to leave.
Although I understand that furries are frustrated by the media mainly focusing on the sexual side of their subculture (which I was at pains to point out is a small minority of the community), it's wrong to pretend that it doesn't go on. It's also naive to think that non-furries aren't going to find it both bizarre and intriguing.

Does anyone seriously believe this tripe?

"How do you break it to your parents that you’re a furry?"
Something like this: "Hey, so there's this subculture centered around this genre of art that's all about cartoon animals. I've got a bunch of friends who are into the same stuff that I like to hang with sometimes. It'd please me to introduce you sometime."
Oh wait, you thought "furry" meant "likes to have sex in a fursuit". My mistake -- no, wait; YOUR mistake.

It seems you like to step into your own excrement one to often. For the most part sex in the fandom is rather subdued. Again this is a sorry excuse fro journalism sine you do not list your sources or off any cerebrating evidence other than a Google search. I bet you did not bother to read any o your search results.
One hint Fursuits are too expensive and hot for sexual activity. Second with only 10% to 15% who actually fursuit at a given convention and I would, say 98% would be highly offended of any sexual proposition, it going to be very hard to find some action at a convention in a fursuit.

A bit blunt, but otherwise spot on i'd say. small part does the bad stuff, others generally pg