@ziyatong I was there! The refugees loved us, children especially. I'm glad we made their transition to Canada fun. pic.twitter.com/YjNRMRLZVZ
— Dray (@LiveitRivet) March 8, 2016
The fifth annual VancouFur convention was held last weekend at a hotel in Vancouver. The same hotel was housing newly-arrived refugees from Syria. To head off problems, the hotel issued a message to the convention attendees, notifying them that the refugees were there and that the furries may be a major shock to them.
“Keep in mind that they likely will not want to interact with you and consent is important to everyone,” the message added.
The exact opposite happened. The furries put on their best welcoming behavior, and the refugees, especially the children, were delighted to see the costumed characters.
Mike Schmidt, who attended VancouFur wrote on Vancity Buzz: “One of the many highlights for me was when the new group of Syrian refugee children came in and got to interact with us. To them we were cartoons to come to life, to us [it] was a means to display our acting performance to a very appreciative audience.
You can see more pictures and videos of the interaction between the refugee children and the furries at Independent. -via Metafilter