Higgs Raccoon's stories

Seattle filmmaker Chris Diani is seeking funding for a project involving furries. His proposed film, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, is envisioned as "a throwback to the classic screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s".

In the film, a gay couple (both broke artists) break up and go looking for sugar daddies. One artist succeeds, but upon meeting his sugar daddy at a hotel, discovers that he is a furry, and the hotel is hosting a furry convention.

The Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Centre at Morgan Hill, California, has an unusual method of preparing orphaned bobcats for reintroduction to the wild. In a technique similar to that employed in Giant Panda conservation, bobcat "mommy" Colleen Grzan wears a full-body costume when interacting with the cats.

Grzan teaches the bobcat kittens to socialize, and encourages bobcat behavior such as hunting and stalking. The bobcat costume ensures the cats will not become accustomed to humans, so they will stay clear of them once released into the wild.

To aid realism, Grzan masks her human scent by rubbing herbs over her clothes and hair; the costume itself is scented with bobcat urine. She wears heavy gloves and remains silent when crawling around with the kittens.

At present, WERC is looking after three bobcat orphans, who will be returned to where they were found at around nine months of age.

Anthropomorphic animals will teach young children some basic entrepreneurial skills in a new book written by Eric F. Steimle and illustrated by Jason Burns. [tip: Harvard Heinous]

In Jason Squirrel Starts a Company (Amazon), the bushy-tailed protagonist grows tired of fetching heavy bags of nuts each day, and having no leisure time, and thus devises a plan to create a nut-collecting company.

After being denied a startup loan from Stan the Banking Turtle, Jason educates himself on the various aspects of running a business (from finance to marketing to staffing), and finds an investor in the form of Grandpa Crow. Overcoming various obstacles, Jason's dream is eventually realised and he expands his woodland business empire by hiring a group of raccoons.

Steiml, based the book on his own experiences in starting a business, saying "I thought there should be more books for younger children that talk about building your own company."

Neurowear is developing a pair of cat ears which respond to the brain activity of their wearer.

Called "necomimi", the ears are mounted on a headband containing sensors, which pick up brain activity and move the ears accordingly. As the wearer concentrates, the ears point upwards, and when they relax the ears flop down and forwards.