Anna in Wonderland

Anna in Wonderland is a BBC documentary which in July 2002 had a half-hour segment about furries.

In this documentary, Anna meets several American furries, including TygerCowboy, Ostrich, and Stalking Cat.

Quotes
Anna: "Do you know what, I have just noticed, you've got a tag collar - wow, can I read it?"

Tyger: "Sure!"

Anna: " 'Tyger Cowboy, Spike's big gay love kitten.' "

Anna: "Do people not say to you, 'Come on guys, grow up'?"

Spike: "What's the point of... having a dull boring life? I don't wanna... y'know, in thirty years look back at my life and say I didn't have fun. And, I mean, I may be older but I refuse to grow up."

Spike: (referring to Tyger) "But he's just got this natural charisma. There's this tendency that people will gravitate towards him."

Anna: "What, even when he's not wearing his [fur]suit?"

Spike: "Yeah, it's not a furry thing, he just has this absolute natural charisma that comes across for some reason."

Anna: "God, Tyger, what is it? How come you're so attractive, to everyone?"

Tyger: "I am absolutely clueless about it, I really have no clue."

(After arriving at a furry weekend campout in the woods, being given a massive group hug at TygerCowboy's prompting, then getting slurped on the face by him.)

Anna: (narrating) "I was beginning to have a very bad feeling about this."

Campgoer: "How are you enjoying the campout so far?"

Anna: "Yeah, it's interesting. Um - I have to say, you know the puppet show today."

Campgoer: "Yeah."

Anna: "I was looking at all the puppets and everyone kind of dancing and looking around I just thought, I'm thirty, this is just... a little bit childish for me."

Campgoer: "Ever heard the phrase, 'You're never too old to be young'?"

Anna: "Mmm?"

Campgoer: "You're going to miss us."

Anna: "D'ja think?"

Campgoer: "I think, yes."

Anna: (narrating) "When the furries started dancing to the Hampster song, I realized I wouldn't miss them back in the mundane world."

Anna: (narrating) "Tyger's furry pack felt like a refuge for gay loners. The fur felt like their excuse to meet up and play."

Anna: (narrating) "[Stalking] Cat scared the pants off me. He's like a transsexual but instead of wanting to change into a woman, he actually wants to change species. I just can't believe he found doctors to transform him." (speaking) "How far are you going to go, then, Cat?"

Stalking Cat: "As far as technology will allow. And as far as I can afford it - y'know, however long it takes me to save up for the next thing that can be done."

Anna: "If it were possible to choose between tiger or man, what would you choose?"

Stalking Cat: (immediately) "Tiger."

Anna: "More so than being a human?"

Stalking Cat: (shrugs) "What's so great about being human?"

Anna: (narrating about Stalking Cat) "I have to admire Dennis. With him, changing into a tiger is a spiritual as well as a physical process. But he was more animal than I bargained for, and I left feeling he had more than a few issues to sort out."

(Visiting Ursus and Wabbit in their new house in Sacramento, and being shown several explicit sexual art commissions, both gay and hetero, hanging openly on their walls.)

Anna: "So, Wabbit, d'you not mind these pictures, y'know, that your husband is... seemingly having sex with somebody else."

Wabbit: "Oh, not at all, actually they kinda get me goin'."

Anna: (narrating) "Even more alarming was that they wanted me to become part of their 'furry den'."

(Discussing how being furry makes everyone in the group very happy.)

A furry: "I've lived more in the last two years than I have in the previous twenty, so... it's great."

Wabbit: "Being overweight quite often has been... rather stigmatic. And just having people around saying, 'Hey, you know, you're really beautiful, you're wonderful, I love you, because you're Wabbit.' That makes me feel good."

(After commenting on Ursus' collar tag, which reads 'Yiff Beast'.)

Ursus: "I am the Yiff beast of Sacramento, actually of all I survey."

Anna: "So now that I'm kind of in your den, does that mean I'm going to have to be... yiffy with you..."

Ursus: (firmly) "No. Absolutely not. It's a matter of individual choice - there must be at least five den-mates I haven't yiffed." (Indicating Anna) "Six now."

Anna: "Out of how many?"

Ursus: (without hesitation) "Thirty-four."

Anna: (narrating) "I was glad these lonely people have found love and acceptance through being furry, but being part of Ursus and Wabbit's sex commune was not my idea of animal rights."

(Shortly afterwards, Ursus adds a leash to the collar he'd given to Anna.)