Furries raise over $36,000 for Utah pet rescue

LAYTON, Utah (ABC4) — Furries, a group of people best known for dressing in animal costumes, have garnered mixed reactions and stigma over the years, especially in Utah. But when it comes to charity, nobody does it quite like them.

Anthro Weekend Utah (AWU), a yearly furry convention in Layton, raised $36,830 for the Park City-based animal rescue Nuzzles & Co this year. The event had just over 2,600 attendees. This is AWU’s second year supporting Nuzzles & Co, and last year they raised around $36,000 as well.

Like AWU, most furry conventions select an animal-based charity to support. This year, the largest furry convention, Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, raised over $87,000 for the Nose 2 Tail Cat Rescue in Pennsylvania. Anthrocon had more than 18,300 attendees.

AWU is hosted every summer at the Davis Conference Center, and the event started in 2017. This year’s convention was the seventh year of the event (AWU was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 and other complications).

Nuzzles & Co is a nonprofit pet rescue and adoption center based out of Park City, Utah. They have been serving pets in the community for more than 35 years, and according to their website, have saved over 27,000 animals. They offer in-house veterinary care and work to address animal homelessness in Utah.

“Nuzzles and Co. is thrilled with the generous support offered to us from the anthro community for two consecutive years, exceeding $36,000 each in 2024 and 2025,” Leslie Barcus, Nuzzles & Co’s executive director, said in a statement to ABC4.

Ven Ferlin, AWU convention chair, told ABC4 that before supporting Nuzzles & Co, AWU’s charity was Wild Wonders, which closed its doors in 2024. AWU was able to use its 2023 fundraising to help rehome all of Wild Wonders’ animals as the charity closed. Following that, AWU worked to find a new animal-focused charity to support and landed on Nuzzles & Co.

“One of the things that drew us to them was the Purple Paw Program … which helps domestic violence victims find homes for their pets during states of transition,” Ferlin shared. “We thought that was really cool … and they were so kind and so supportive … we really thought they were the right people to support.”

One of the ways that AWU fundraises for its charity of choice is a casino night. In a partnership with Common Cents, furries gather together to play blackjack, craps, roulette, and Texas Hold’em. Although gambling with real money isn’t legal in Utah, Common Cents ensures it’s all above board, and all of the funds go directly to the charity, making it a fun and legal way to gamble.

This year, just under $23,000 came from AWU’s charity auction, another fundraising event. The most popular items are large decorations and theming pieces purchased for the convention that feature AWU’s original mascots, Ferlin said. Alongside those pieces, everything from limited prints and posters to costume pieces to the clothes off Ferlin’s back is offered up to earn as much as possible for Nuzzles & Co.

“We have a really fun auctioneer… and he tends to get a little carried away,” Ferlin shared. “He will auction the shirt off my back… we’ve gotten hundreds for the shirt I was already wearing.”

Ferlin said that one year, the auctioneer even auctioned off Ferlin’s shoes. He’s learned to bring an extra change of clothes and keep them backstage just in case. “He makes sure we get every dollar for the charity that we can.” A local furry group, the United Utah Furry Fandom, even pitched in a little under $900 as a donation to Nuzzles & Co. Another $1,100 was raised by Twisted Tails, a traveling escape room at the convention.

Last year, Nuzzles & Co. received a donation of more than $36,00 from AWU. In an Instagram post, they shared that the funding would provide six months of medical care and medication for the pet rescue. This year, another sizable donation will support Nuzzles & Co’s operations again.

“Financial support of this magnitude facilitates Nuzzles’ rescue of approximately 60 animals per year, including the search and rescue of these animals from extremely vulnerable situations, whether they be at risk of euthanasia in kill shelters or experiencing [homelessness],” Barcus stated. “This funding also facilitates our continued care of these animals, including their medical care, feeding, and preparation for eventual adoption.”

Ferlin said that it was a really successful year, and they’re so happy to support a great cause like Nuzzles & Co. Everyone on the convention’s team works entirely unpaid, aside from a small per diem that pays for expenses during the convention itself. This ensures that they put as much as possible toward the charity

“Nuzzles has had a very positive and heartwarming experience with the anthro group and appreciates their interest in our cause to reduce animal homelessness. They bring great energy and concern to the partnership with Nuzzles, and we thank [ABC4 News] for the opportunity to thank the anthro community publicly,” Barcus expressed.

“We’re really happy with the large donation. … It was a really, really successful year. We had a lot of fun,” Ferlin shared.

What is a furry?

According to the United Utah Furry Fandom (U2F2), a group that brings the furry community together in Utah, furries are people who “enjoy embodying characters that look and act like anthropomorphic animals,” and sometimes dress up as them. They compare the interest in anthropomorphic animals to Disney characters, like Robin Hood or Judy Hopps.

“In addition to hosting or attending furry-centric events, the fandom often participates in charity or community events, supports local businesses, and is always willing to brighten the day of both our fellow members and the general public,” U2F2 states.

Furries have faced stigma for years, and Utah even had an incident where students at a junior high school staged a walkout to protest them. U2F2 says that this stigma comes from incorrect assumptions about the fandom. As a whole, they say that furries are indeed weird, but are not deviants as depicted on TV shows, nor do they believe they are real animals.