Get Furry (The Battalion)

Get Furry (subtitle: Aggies unleash their animalistic nature) is the title of an article by Sonia Moghe which was published in the March 24th, 2005, edition of The Battalion, the student newspaper of Texas A&M University.

The article centres on Texas A&M student Brendan Jones, who goes by the furry name Sakanz. Jones describes himself as an otherkin, believing himself to be a raptor, and, considering the raptor way of life superior to the human way of life, tries to incorporate his raptor side into his day to day activities.

Jones expresses a wish that he could have scales and a tail to be more like a raptor, and the article mentions an attempt to construct a raptor fursuit which he abandoned due to the amount of time it would require.

The second half of the article talks with Jones' one-time room-mate, Alex Harder. Harder had never heard of furry fandom before meeting Jones, and was disturbed by the number of fox drawings adorning his walls (which Jones explained were his boyfriend), as well as the sight of him in bed with piles of plush animals.

Conceding he could have handled it better, Harder relates how he told Jones he couldn't live with his lifestyle, and Jones moved out of the dorm into his own apartment after two and a half weeks.

The article ends with A&M professor of psychology Arnold Leunes speculating that "because many furries are homosexual ... their behavior could be an alternate way to manifest their sexual preferences". Noting that "It's not easy being gay in this society", Leuenes wonders if furry fandom "might be an attempt to find a little gentler touch to the whole thing", or just be an attention-grabbing mechanism.