Furry artist Mizzyam, also known as MisterNivens and Amarimasi, has been arrested after a month-long Internet child-pornography investigation.

Known in the real world as Michael Shalapata, the 24-year-old resident of Hamilton, Ontario was taken into custody on November 1 by members of the Ontario Provincial Police Child Sexual Exploitation Unit and the Hamilton Police Service Internet Child Exploitation Unit.

Shalapata was charged with "making child pornography available and two counts of possession of child pornography". Four computers and "other items" were seized.

Dream Field Comics, creators of Softpaw Magazine, spin-off Finding Avalon, and Ulster, have closed. The publisher was notorious for their popular pornographic magazines depicting young furry characters.

Softpaw's US$20-$25 issues consisted of 64-96 full-colour glossy pages containing a mixture of comics, pin-ups and stories.

Their work was barred from sale at Eurofurence and Further Confusion, but subsequently nominated for the 2008 Ursa Majors – only to be banned the next year.

At press time, most Dream Field titles were in stock at Rabbit Valley.

Update (19 Jun): Dream Field co-founder Jery Softpaw provided an explanation for closing:

Best Magazine nominee Softpaw #4 would be excluded today [Papaya Kitty]

Nominations have begun for the 2009 Ursa Major Awards, furry fandom's popular award for excellence in published works. But new rules intended to safeguard the reputation of the Awards and its sponsoring events will exclude works which won nomination in previous years.

While nominees and winners will still be chosen by popular vote, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association intends to block material they deem "obscene, libelous, or otherwise detrimental to the integrity and good standing of the Ursa Major Awards and the anthropomorphics fandom."

Their definition includes "works of a predominantly sexual nature, or which include explicit sexual situations involving characters which may be underage or non-anthropomorphic animals."

The winners of the 2008 Ursa Major Awards were announced this weekend at All Fur Fun 2009 in Spokane Valley, Washington.^[1]

Nominees and award winners were chosen by popular online vote. Over 270 ballots were received from 16 countries for the final vote — an 34% increase over the previous year.^[1]

Softpaw #2, the previous edition of Softpaw Magazine, was banned from Eurofurence over similar concerns.

Further Confusion's governing organization Anthropomorphic Arts and Education (AAE) has banned the sale of erotic cub fanzine Softpaw Magazine at this year's event, making it the second major convention to ban the work.^[1]

The decision was based on a rule banning "[depictions of] minor[s] engaging in sexually explicit conduct", which AAE added due to the prosecution of Dwight Whorley for receiving lolicon over the Internet.^[2] Softpaw and its supporters maintain that, as furries are not humans but anthropomorphic animals, laws covering the sexual relation of humans do not apply.^[3][4][5]

Some assumed AAE's decision was made partly on moral grounds, while others thought they were making a definitive statement about the legality of Softpaw and similar works.^[5] The board later posted a statement denying both of these, emphasizing that the risk and consequences of legal action - regardless of its success - were the sole reason for their ban.^[6]

Softpaw #2: banned at Eurofurence

Eurofurence chair Cheetah has announced a ban on the sale or distribution of the erotic cub publication Softpaw Magazine at this September's convention. The announcement came just an hour after Portugese comic book artist and Softpaw contributor Dktorzi announced his intent to act as a dealer of the magazine.^[1][2] German furry artist Inuki was given a similar message.^[3]

Cheetah noted that the decision was based on four factors: the legal "gray area" surrounding cub pornography in Germany, the "rather diastrous_[sic] conflicts within the fandom" (a reference to incidents at Fur Affinity and elsewhere), the board's wish to maintain a good reputation with the hotel and its staff, and a pre-existing ban on cub pornography in the art show. He stated that the board's decision "is final, and we will not discuss it."

Softpaw #1 - Cute, but not innocent

There's a new furry fanzine making the rounds. You probably won't see it on the shelves of your local comic book store, though, or in any public library, since its prime attraction is pornographic cub art and stories.

Softpaw Magazine #1 was published in November of last year,^[1] joining the catalog of furry dealer Rabbit Valley this February.^[2]

The magazine's retail price is $20—distinctly higher than smaller, black and white furry comics which usually sell for less than $5. Conversely, Softpaw's format is 8.5" x 11" with between 64-80 pages in full colour.

Softpaw editors Jery and Kiffin maintain that the magazine — mailed in unmarked plain envelopes — is entirely legal:

Softpaw Magazine contains ... young looking characters who are entirely fictional and are over the age of 18. There's nothing wrong about publishing a magazine like that.[3] (see update)