Two furry Youtubers, 2 the Ranting Gryphon and Tantroo McNally, find themselves in a poignant brouhaha. It all started in mid-February when an infamous furry comedian made a statement on hate crime statistics, and would lead to a long winded discussion of righteous condemnation that left audiences in awe at how two angry old men could find literally nothing better to do with their time.

The Southern Poverty Law Center tallied 1064 incidents of hate crime in 2017, relatively few ending in death.

3500 people on average are killed every year in swimming pools. Swimming pools are a larger threat than racists. Why aren't you going after them? https://t.co/zgw2WDbB5a

Hundreds of furs worldwide have opened up their wallets, giving over $20,000 to a Pittsburgh man who has sold subs, wraps and t-shirts to Anthrocon attendees in recent years.

Business owner Fernando Decarvalho faces financial ruin; his eatery, Fernando's Cafe, was forced to announce its impending closure last month. Fans hope their money will keep it open until Anthrocon 2012, and beyond.

The donations are to be given to Fernando at a planned meetup today (April 21) at his cafe. Over 100 have signed up to eat at the restaurant; several plan to attend in fursuit.

Update: $21,000 was handed over by "Anthrocons"; WTAE coverage - event stream [Dobie] (donations handed over at 33:33). Fernando expressed his thanks, while noting that his landlord has another potential renter in negotiation for his space after June.

2, The Ranting Gryphon

Furry stand-up comedian 2, The Ranting Gryphon, has announced he is to retire from comedy.

The American comedian, whose real name is Matthew Davis, first began contemplating his retirement after the failed assassination attempt on his life. During a visit to a London furmeet, someone tried to kill 2 by excessive alcohol poisoning.

In a statement published on his website, 2 said that the botched murder attempt was a sign from God that he should quit the profession and relax. He said: "I have spent most of my career ranting and complaining for virtually no reason. I have now seen the light and have decided to devote the rest of my life to the Lord. I have therefore taken the decision to become a monk and move into a monastery."

As a way of making penance, 2 has agreed to pay back double his usual appearance fee to all the conventions he now will not be attending.

2, the Ranting Gryphon, recently poisoned while on a trip to London.

As most of you folks out there will probably know by now, one 2 Gryphon was near-fatally poisoned following a London furmeet at the weekend just passed.

A suspected pair of shots – spiked with significantly higher levels of alcohol – were downed by the well-known comedian, which he claims "is the last thing I remember about the evening". He was later found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.41; 0.40 is the amount required to reach "LD50" – or a greater than 50% chance of death.

2 was looked over by the police and ambulance services on the night and spent most of the next day recovering. In his blog he noted that it was his compulsive alcoholism that probably got him into trouble, however his extreme tolerance to the drink is probably what stopped him dying.

The furcon world was hit by amazement in October as 2 "the Ranting" Gryphon announced the launching of a new convention on his website, with himself as vice chairman. The already established MichiganFurs group are hosting the con.

Furry Connection North will be the first convention in the Michigan area and is set to take place April 11th to 13th, 2008.

Registration is now open, with scheduled appearances from 2 Gryphon and Uncle Kage. Latin Vixen, co-owner of fursuit makers MixedCandy, is slated to be a guest of honour.

I didn't feel like retyping issue 2 of the Furtean Times from the JPG version, so here's the PDF. Check it out for:

• profiles of the 50 greatest furry characters, compiled from a poll (Diesel Leon)
• an interview with the NorthernFurs (Alexander Grey)
• various newsbytes and media links (Alexander Grey)
• a brief article on fursuit building (Enigma Vulpine)
• a rant about 2 (The Chained Wolf)
• the art of Almiras Silverwolf
• convention listings and a wordsearch (Alexander Grey)