British furry news site FurteanTimes.com has closed after almost four years online.

Former editor-in-chief Alexander Grey (stories) explained:

With falling readership and contributions since the middle of the year, followed on by an exploit in early September bringing the site offline, I have decided to close the website for good.

It was my initial intention to rebuild the website from scratch to make it easier for users to contribute multimedia content [...], however this process was difficult and time consuming to complete while working alone. Having started university in September, I now have little time on my hands for such an in-depth and involved project.

Like WikiFur News, the site's previously published content is being preserved at Flayrah.

The front cover of Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot (from Play.com)

The first six pages of anthropomorphic steampunk graphic novel Grandville Mon Amour have been made available.

Written and drawn by Bryan Talbot, it is the sequel to Grandville, set in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, where France won the Napoleonic Wars and the world is full of steam-powered technology.

The story takes place three weeks after the first book, in which badger hero Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard is working outside the law after resigning from his job after a row with his boss and is wracked with remorse after failing to prevent the death of a loved one.

The main characters in Mongrels (left to right): Destiny, Nelson, Kali (top), Marion (bottom) and Vince

Mongrels sets the tone very early on. The first scene features a pensioner falling down some stairs to her death.

Her pet cat Marion (accent unknown) tries to give her mouth-to-mouth. This proves to be of no avail as the woman has been dead for four months. So, what do Marion’s fellow felines do to their late owner? Simple - they eat her.

From this opening you can tell what kind of audience they are aiming for. Mongrels pushes the boundaries of taste and admittedly at times it is very funny.

The main characters in Mongrels (left to right): Destiny, Nelson, Kali (top), Marion (bottom) and Vince

Preview clips of BBC Three adult animal puppet sitcom Mongrels are available before the series begins on 22nd June.

Previously known under the title We Are Mongrels, the sitcom revolves around the lives of five wild animals living around the back of an inner city pup.

The front cover of Out of Position, which won the award for 'Best Novel' for Kyell Gold, and 'Best Published Illustration' for Blotch

The furry homoerotic fiction writer Kyell Gold is now officially the most acclaimed furry writer ever, having won more Ursa Major Awards than anyone else.

Gold (his fursona, not his real name) won "Best Novel" with Out of Position and "Best Short Fiction" with Drifting. This brings his total number of awards that he has won since their creation to eight, making him the most successful individual in their history, beating previous holder Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, who has six.

Also, Gold wrote for Heat #6, which won the award for "Best Magazine", and the cover for Out of Position, designed by Blotch, won "Best Published Illustration".

Furry bondage artist BondoFox has been voted the Bronze winner in the 2010 Bondage Awards for "Best Writer".

BondoFox, who runs the website BondoFox Advanced, was given the prize following both a public vote and from voting by selected judges.

The 'Tanicloth', a tablecloth drawn on my German artist TaniDeReal, sold at ConFuzzled for £2000

In 2008, the British furry convention ConFuzzled raised £1,600 for charity. In 2009, ConFuzzled raised £2,000 for charity. Today – less than an hour ago – ConFuzzled smashed that record with only one item.

The item, a tablecloth with artwork by guest of honour TaniDaReal had a starting bid of £50, which quickly exploded into the hundreds and then the thousands. In a bidding war that lasted several minutes between staff member Colifox and American furry fan Beshon, the bids finally jumped from £1,800 to £2,000 and ConFuzzled history was made for the largest bid paid for any item in an auction.

The recent article made by FurteanTimes' Editor-In-Chief Alexgrey is out-of-turn for professional journalistic writing. It is full of faults. The story's title is presumptuous, and the story presents opinion as fact, makes wild claims, and it threatens to cause hysteria and fear as it ripples through the fandoms. A full retraction and apology should be written in its place lest the FurteamTimes lose any credibility as a quality news source.

The recent United Kingdom "Cartoon Law" is untested. Like any obscenity law, it resides in a huge gray area of legal interpretation. Moreover, no single piece of anthropomorphic art has been examined during common-law legal proceedings since the Friendly Frank's obscenity case in the United States back in 1986, as far as this author is aware.

Until the fateful day when a legal complaint is made against an artist, publisher, or consumer and a trained law enforcement officer determines the validity of a complaint, a warrant is issued by a judge, an arrest is made, and the defendant is tried and convicted for the possession of a piece of "furry" erotic art or literature, no single editor for any news source (unless they are psychic) can proclaim anything further than mere speculation.

This is basic "Law & Order" material, guys. Not even a lawyer experienced in obscenity law can give more than expert opinion in this matter. So save that extra two thousand in your bank account until you really need it.

Today FurteanTimes.com reported that a new law just pasted by the British government will make paedophilic depictions of furry pornographic illegal. But does it really do this?

The law in question is the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and the bit covering this new law is Sections 62 to 68. Now, it has been reported by some sources, such as The Register and FurteanTimes.com that this law will ban depictions of under-age children and people, which will be a worry to some anime/manga fans.

However, what is actually meant be "people" and "children"?

As the days count down until the general election on May 6th, Parliament is now starting to push through the final pieces of legislation for the current government. While many people have been focusing on the Digital Economy Bill, Parliament yesterday quietly passed legislation that may effect furries more than any other.

The Cartoon Law has made it illegal to create or possess imagery of minors (characters under-18 years of age), without discretion to species or the manner in which that imagery has been created. In furry terms, artwork of characters under-18 - be them engaging in a sexual act or having exposed genitalia - are henceforth illegal. This also includes imagery of sexual acts occurring in the presence of a minor.

It doesn't just affect furries however, lolicon (a form of hentai depicting children) is also made illegal under the new law.

Advertising for Alex Horne's show 'Wordwatching'

Last night I was in Darlington watching Alex Horne, who is most famous as co-host of the BBC Four comedy panel game We Need Answers. He was performing a show entitled "Wordwatching", which is about his attempts to introduce words that he and his friends have invented into the OED.

So far, while some progress has been made, none of his words (see below) have got in. However, I feel that if we can spread the word around we can get them in. I just hope I do not go on a mental safari during the attempt.

This show has resulted in me asking a question: how come so far no words relating to the furry fandom have got into the OED? After all, the fandom has been in existence for some time (at least since the 1980s).

If the term "furry" has been used to describe both the fandom and the type of characters in it, then I think it should be included. Also, it appears that I am not the only furry with such ideas. There is currently an online petition to get "yiff" in the OED as well, which has over 3,000 signatures.

As a result, I propose we start a campaign to get as many furry words into the OED as we can.

Well, the final nominations of the Ursa Major Awards have been announced. Now all that is left to do is for people to vote and to speculate on who will win and on who they hope will win.

British claymation characters Wallace and Gromit have been nominated for this year's Academy Awards - the sixth time in their history.

Their 2008 short A Matter of Loaf and Death has been nominated for the award for "Short Film (Animated)". The film was first broadcast on Christmas Day, and was watched by over half of the British viewing public at the time with 14.25 million people seeing it on BBC One.

However, because it was broadcast so late in the year it missed the deadline to be entered in the 2009 Oscars. Despite this, creator, director and co-writer Nick Park said to the BBC at the time: "We have never made films for awards, though. We do them for the fun of it."

Wallace and Gromit are among the most successful animated characters in terms of Oscars. Every single film featuring them has been nominated for an award, with only their first appearance in A Grand Day Out failing to win, losing out to Creature Comforts, also created by Nick Park.

The other nominees are French Roast, Granny O’Grimm's Sleeping Beauty, The Lady and the Reaper and Logorama.

The Ursa Major Awards logo, drawn by Heather Bruton

Nominations for the 2009 Ursa Major Awards are now open.

The Ursa Majors are the main awards given out by the furry fandom. Nominations are sent in by furries on a range of different subjects including films, comics, literature and games.

Nominations for the final short list will be open until 28th February, with the final round of voting taking place from 13th March until 18th April.

Those short of ideas on who to vote for can read the "Recommended Anthropomorphics List".

the scoop on the furry group, N*F*M on YouTube.com

Many furries as of late, have reported being "Trolled" on the popular media site, youtube.com. While many furries are choosing to ignore comments left by trolls on their YT channels, as well as in video comments, and personal messages, some furries are taking a stand.

Many small groups have appeared across YouTube, all seemingly linked to one main group, the New*Furry*Military or the N*F*M. This leads to the questions, what happened to the OLD Furry Military, and why does the leader, MrDisambiguation, want to post this group all over the internet? What does he hope to gain? Perhaps he wants to be a famous fur? Or maybe he just wants to make a point.

I'll be keeping tabs on this subject until I dig up these and many other answers.