Thank you and thank ! He is Valiska Courinna's hunting buddy and he is a lot of fun to play!

Thank you :)

I forget if you're in my ping group or not but you are always welcome to slot on any of my things. I know we are big fans of and commission some of the same artists, plus we are friends! (Even if we weren't friends, though I am very glad we are, I generally do not make private items. Or do limited runs. I joined the site in 2017 and it's taken me a long time to get many items I've wanted since I joined.)

I've been marking you down for releases from artists I know we're both into as presents for birthday/site holidays, and wasn't sure if you would like a thylacine as some people are more into exotic animal companions than others.

Would you also be into fossas and servals? Those are some of the other animals I want to do.

I live in California where it's illegal to keep most "wild" animals, even if they've been living with humans for generations or were rescued and can't be released to the wild for any number of legit reasons, but I used to be involved in FCF (Feline Conservation Federation) and plan to be involved again. Through them I've known many people who kept servals and bobcats which I also think would be fun on site. I was really excited about the Fireside bobcat but it's too much fire/spirit and not enough companion. Callista, my primary Wizarding character, has a serval familiar. I've been using a margay item, a cheetah cub item, two ocelot items and a housecat hybrid item to represent Sabrina in various avatars but I eventually want the correct animal. (Although I love all those animals too, servals have super distinctive ears.)

Plus I want baby fossas because they are freaking adorable and an adult fossa because one of my minor Wizarding characters has one as a familiar.

And an African Wild Dog/Painted Wolf, because one of my minor Wizarding characters (Callista and the twins' mother) turns into one.

I want baby fossas climbing on the HA's head and shoulders. Here is why.

Look at these precious babies! They are TOO sweet!

, I know you like unique animals too. I think you might also enjoy having some of these cuties. I don't understand why we have a dhole and a subadult thylacine but no AWDs and the only fossa on the site is a plushie.

Ooh, the preview for Arrhal is gorgeous! Melanistic animals are beautiful and, while there may not be any records of this occurring in thylacines, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. I swear, all these animal wearables are the reason I'm broke. XD I'm short on CSC right now thanks to Luminaire but I'm definitely following the group for future releases. Eventually I'll need to adopt the whole thylacine family, they're precious. ❤️

Fossas are adorable and we absolutely need both them and African Wild Dogs. Another rare animal (the rarest canine, in fact) that I'd love to see is the Ethiopian Wolf! They're very unique, critically endangered, and deserve more attention. Back when I had more free time I used to RP and one of my oldest characters was an Ethiopian wolf named Farren.

Aannnd, while they're not rare, I also think we need more coyotes on the site. The only non CW one is dressed in human clothes (which is adorable, but I prefer natural) and the only CW coyote is never available for purchase. I saw a real one on my evening hike yesterday and he/she was beautiful. Subeta just needs more puppies. I need allll the puppies. :"D

Coyotes are awesome! <3 and so are Ethiopian Wolves. All the babies!

Edit: I too was disappointed that the only coyote we have has clothes on. A coyote is too pretty to hide!

I'm pretty sure I'm in the ping group :) And yeah, I'm in California too - they tend to send those animals they do find to rescue orgs at least so they can have good lives. I'm definitely into the fossas and servals too!

Sadly, servals bond tightly to their human companions, so that if they are confiscated by the government, they do not lead good lives in rescues. Servals will pine and refuse to eat if removed from a family and should never be taken out of a home unless they are being abused by their owners.

That's really horrible =/ I mean, folks definitely should not be getting them knowing that they run the risk of confiscation and causing distress, but that's really sad that they know that and still take them away though when they're healthy.

They've been illegal (unjustifiably) in California for a long time, but most cases where people lose exotic pets of this nature are the result of changes in state laws where the opponents have been unable to enforce the addition of "grandfather clauses". (Legitimate exotics breeders won't sell you an animal that's illegal to own where you live and usually want to make sure you've engaged a vet who is competent to care for that pet.)

There's a couple of factors in play here.

1. Although individual people who consider themselves to be in favour of "animal rights" may not have a problem with pet ownership, the AR movement as a whole wants to abolish it entirely. They jump on anti-exotics laws as a wedge issue and spread a lot of misinformation when these laws are being proposed. For instance, they will try and convince people that these laws are necessary to keep their neighbours from keeping a tiger in the backyard, when chances are that's already illegal for a lot of good reasons, or they will talk a lot about poaching without mentioning that many exotic animals come from legitimate breeders.

2. Many people who are in favour of wildlife conservation are not aware that while it is regrettably common for exotic pets to have been poached, there are a lot of "wild" animals that have been bred in captivity for generations, and that a serval living in someone's home is quite unlikely to have been snatched from the African wilderness.

3. People are scared of animals that they don't recognise and are easily swayed by animal rights activists.

It can be difficult for the small minority of people who own exotic pets to take these lobbies on, and some people are really not in a position to quit their jobs and pack up everything they own to move to Texas or Nevada or one of the other states where you pretty much CAN keep anything you want to own.

Many people who think they support animal rights are actually supporters of animal welfare and/or wildlife conservation, and are not educated about the differences. If you support animal welfare, you are taking a position that people have the right to own and use animals, but they don't have the right to abuse or neglect them. If you support wildlife conservation, you are taking a position that wild animals are valuable and wildlife and the ecosystem should be protected wherever possible, that animals born in the wild should mostly remain there, and that human intervention in the lives of wild animals should be limited to what's necessary to protect them and their habitats. The animal rights movement as a whole does not acknowledge any moral or ethical differences between any creature that is capable of experiencing pain, and its leadership is opposed to humans owning or breeding animals for any reason--even to support vanishing populations of endangered animals. They are not opposed to killing animals as long as no humans benefit from it, and they tend to have a liberal definition of "euthanasia".

There are natural conflicts between animal welfare and wildlife conservation that are hard to navigate for people who support both--for instance, TNR (trap/neuter/return) for feral cats is unquestionably kinder than euthanising feral cats, and it's easier on shelter workers too, but it's hell on threatened native bird and small animal populations.

But once organisations like PeTA and HSUS get involved it's just a complete mess, because they have a lot of money, a lot of people who support them without really knowing what they are about (for instance, there are plenty of people who send them money or appear in their adverts who aren't vegan and probably aren't fully aware that they would mandate veganism for all if they could), and a lot of PR experts working for them that organisations like Feline Conservation Federation (which supports individual ownership of captive-bred non-poached wildcats by responsibly educated people) have a hard time combatting.

Rescues/sanctuaries also tend to get involved in lobbying but of course, they only see the bad side of everything. When you put rescue workers in charge of deciding whether the average person can have a pet, it's kind of like asking 20-year burnt out CPS veterans if they believe humans should be required to get a licence to have a baby.

(And then there's Big Cat Rescue. This organisation is owned by a failed exotics breeder who is an extremely shady individual and may have also murdered her husband, and rather than getting into arguments here, I will just encourage anyone who is interested to google them and Carole Baskin, their founder.)

Oh yeah, a lot of the 'animal rights' groups are full of complete and utter bs and have no idea what they're talking about or doing, bu they're loud and often very flashy and good at convincing people that they're right even when they aren't, but it's so easy to react to their lambasts because they're designed to be reactionary.

Unfortunately they are very good at making themselves sound good when they are not actually trying to convince everyone that they must go vegan immediately right this minute, and there are certain areas of the US where they have way too much influence.

But you don't even have to go very far into PeTA's website to find the page where they explain that their goal is to end all ownership of pets by shutting down all breeders (not just puppy and kitten mills), criminalising private sale of animals (which is already an issue where I live) and requiring all animals be obtained through shelters with obligatory spay/neuter, resulting in the eventual die-off of all domestic pet species.

They're also big on criminalising people who've adopted wild animals that were orphaned that they hand-raised. Transferring those animals to sanctuaries is not actually a great thing either if the animals are being properly cared for by their owners, because most sanctuaries are already overburdened dealing with animals that legitimately need to be in care due to injury or abandonment or abuse. Sometimes people take in baby animals that are abandoned, ill or injured and they don't even realise that it might be illegal, particularly not if they live in a rural area. They usually do a pretty good job with a single animal that was acquired young enough to become tame, unless it's an animal that's going to be dangerous simply because its adult size and strength means it can hurt a human without meaning to, and when they get things wrong they are often willing to fix them because they sincerely love the animal.

Taking a bobcat that's never harmed anyone, has been hand-raised and can't be released in the wild, and is happy and healthy out of a good home and putting it in a sanctuary means an unhappy bobcat, an unhappy family, and less room and resources in the sanctuary for an animal that really needs to be there.

But all it takes is one freaked-out neighbour who just happened to see the animal without being aware of what kind of animal it is and no information about the actual risks or concerns that might or might not exist.
Heck, there have been cases of legal hybrid house cat breeds (savannahs and bengals) being shot at by neighbours who took them for cheetahs or whatever.

Oh yeah, they're the worst honestly. PETA does more to kill animals that don't need nor deserve killing than hunters at this point. It's utterly ridiculous.

The statistics on which animals are likely to survive entering a PeTA shelter are upsetting and also interesting. Rabbits do pretty well. Most dogs and 99% of cats end up dead. Obligate carnivores check in but they don't check out.

Honestly, hunters are actually essential in many parts of the country for protection of the ecosystem/environment.

We as a species have a bad habit of wiping out other predators. Where I grew up (which wasn't California where I live now), everything else that used to eat deer has mostly been killed off, so they are overpopulated, starving, eating people's vegetable gardens (which in some of the rural areas are important for food security) and causing freeway accidents. Some hunters are assholes (my sister's neighbour has been known to spraypaint "COW" in huge orange letters on the sides of her livestock) but the ones that aren't help keep this situation in check. We could sure use some wolves, though.

It's really really disheartening for sure.

feralroses

Announcements

Bad news first: You Should See The Other Guy horns by were denied.

Good news:
was approved last night and now that all the people who slotted have picked up I'm going to unlock him. Go get any stuff you want in the last hours of Black Friday and I will be happy to send you invites on locked pending items if you're not getting them for Luminaire from me.

Slot, please ❤

Yay can't wait to use it. <3

Got you!

aaaaaaaaaaaa thank you so much!!! <3

i got a birthday present :000 ">it's here

Awwww you didn't have to do this!!! Thank you so much ;_; WEE ROSES! I LOVE IT! AHHHH! ** hugs u TYSM FOR THIS LOVELY GIFT!!! :D

- Guys check out this cute rose top my friend is releasing for my belated birthday!!! ^-^ <3