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Archons, DWBS condemn “Cultivate Cuteness” campaign

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cuteness-postersThe Archons of The Park, in conjunction with the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS) have issued a warning about a new campaign that has taken hold in The Park.

At a press conference early this morning, Balthasar Alouatta, spokesAnimal for the Archons, and Cornelius Kakapo, DWBS Director of Public Relations, condemned “in no uncertain terms” the campaign that advises Park Animals to “cultivate cuteness” in order to make themselves attractive to Humans.

“No matter what challenges we face in The Park, selling ourselves to Humans is not the solution,” Alouatta said. “We condemn in no uncertain terms this campaign that undermines our efforts to bring about fairness and equality for all. We are committed to Animal self-rule and we will not back down from it, even in the face of economic challenges and interspecial disharmony.”

The DWBS also had a warning for the campaign’s organizers:

“We will remain vigilant against your anti-zoocratic efforts and we will not hesitate to prosecute should any of The Park’s laws be broken,” Kakapo said.

Stereotype STUNday: Snail Male lambasted for “aggressive” behaviour

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angry-snailIt wasn’t just his specist lyrics. Or the direction his tentacles pointed. Or even the tattoo (unprintable in this newspaper) on his shell.

It was, as the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS) put it, “a combustible combination of the three” that led them to call Park Police to remove rapper SnailMale from the stage at this past weekend’s Stereotype Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Cornelius Kakapo, Director of Public Relations for the Department of Well-Being and Safety, said although the department would not press charges against the rapper, he most definitely would be banned from performing at major events in The Park “for some time.”

“We believe he intended to be incendiary and that is his prerogative when he performs on his own at events that he has organized and that Animals have paid to attend. But it was absolutely inappropriate to bring that type of attitude and set list to an open event and, particularly, to an event that is organized to promote interspecial harmony,” Kakapo said.

According to Kakapo, most attendees were in agreement with the department’s decision to remove the rapper from the stage mid-performance.

“We had an enormous amount of feedback on this and I would say ninety percent of it is positive in terms of our actions,” he said.

SnailMale, whose songs are known to be angry and aggressive, has displayed specist tendencies in the past, but he has also been a supporter of interspecial harmony in The Park. In an open letter on his web site posted yesterday, the rapper said he was “unfairly treated and unjustly removed” from the event.

“They knew my work when they invited me to perform. So, why did they remove me for being who I have always been?” he asked.

Literacy rates lowest in Park’s feral communities: study

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FeralLiteracy rates are lowest among members of The Park’s feral communities, according to a study conducted last year at the University of West Terrier.

The study, which was commissioned by the 2015 Archons and the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS) in association with the Park Education Working Collective (PEWC), was conducted by researchers at UWT’s F. Varrah Flanagan School of Education.

The results of the study were published yesterday in the academic quarterly, Journal of Education Theory and Experience (JETE).

“I find these results quite troubling,” head researcher Domoina Fossa said in an interview on TMD Radio this morning. “What they say to me is that not only do we need to work harder to encourage our newest residents to avail themselves of The Park’s educational opportunities, but we have to actively sell the benefits of education to them.”

Fossa, who was the lead researcher in a study five years ago that found the majority of Park Animals were home-schooled, said her new study was a not a follow-up, but a more focused approach to the problem.

“We narrowed our focus by narrowing our field of study and by using a very precise definition of ‘feral,’ she said.

That definition, she told TMD Radio, excluded all moral values and belief systems and used only data related to territory of origin, time spent as a resident in The Park, living conditions, and way of life.

“We deliberately didn’t include time spent with Humans, because we thought that would muddy the waters,” Fossa said. “Many members of our feral communities have known Humans and have used their aid, but it hasn’t changed their way of life.”

Fossa said she expects a “swift and strong” reaction to the study’s results.

“Low literacy rates endanger the principles of zoocracy and interspecial harmony. It was one of Jor’s [The Park’s first leader and the founder of modern zoocracy] core beliefs that we must foster interspecial harmony through knowledge. I think we are failing him at the moment,” she said.

Harmonious Humphrey and Hannah one year on: what have we learned?

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Harmonious pair

Harmonious pair celebrate first anniversary of working with Stereotype Sundays

It’s been one year since the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS) introduced Harmonious Humphrey and Harmonious Hannah to The Park’s Stereotype Sundays.[pullquote]”We have to do all we can to prevent the younger generation from developing this fear of the other. If it takes a pair of gigantic stuffed Animals, that’s all right. Just so long as we don’t expect toys to do all the work for us.”—Gunnar Rotte, journalist and counsellor [/pullquote]

The pair of stuffed toys, commissioned by the DWBS to foster interspecial harmony in the hearts and minds of The Park’s youth, have spent every weekend (notwithstanding the theft and recovery of Hannah) being hugged, cuddled, bitten, pulled at, and spat on by Animals of all ages. The question is, what has been accomplished?

“I think we made a very good start,” says Cornelius Kakapo, the DWBS Public Relations Director who famously said a year ago, “It is far easier to plant a seed than it is to relocate a tree.”

“We haven’t seen the kind of shift in attitudes that we might have wanted, but I think that was an unreasonable expectation.”

According to Kakapo, the key to the harmonious pair’s success is to get young Animals interested in our differences and similarities.

“We’re using Hannah and Humphrey to create curiosity in young Animals,” he says. “That’s the reason they’re so big.”

That curiosity, the DWBS hopes, will lead to an exchange of information about different species that will, in turn, create greater understanding.

Gunnar Rotte, whose own experiences in The Park have taken him on a whirlwind tour from being a journalist to a public enemy to a counsellor at the Extinction Anxiety Clinic, says we have nothing to lose in employing the stuffed toys. But he cautions against expecting “huge gains.”

“We have to do all we can to prevent the younger generation from developing this fear of the other,” he says. “If it takes a pair of gigantic stuffed Animals, that’s all right. Just so long as we remain vigilant and we don’t expect toys to do all the work for us.”

Raimundo Zorro strikes again: new web site violates conditions of sentence

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Raimundo Zorro

Raimundo Zorro

DEVELOPING STORY

Raimundo Zorro has struck again.

Zorro, who was convicted last August on two counts of inciting hate by owning and operating the controversial web site, “SplotchWatch,” appears to have violated the conditions of his sentence by starting a new web site.

Zorro’s sentence, which was handed down on September 11, 2015 by Mr. Justice Augustus Dindon, prohibited him from hosting “any web sites of any nature and pertaining to any subject for the next three years.”

But today, police confirmed the existence of a new web site hosted by Zorro.

“It appears that Zorro is up to his old tricks,” Chief Inspector Maurice Addax of the Park Police Force’s Specist and Hate Crimes Unit (SHCU) said at a press conference early this morning.

“We were alerted to the existence of the new site by Hortencia Guacamayo of headsNtales, and we would like to express our gratitude to her for demonstrating a commitment to interspecial harmony,” he said.

Addax offered only scant details about the site, which is called, “BANDland.” He confirmed that the site uses technology to track the movements of The Park’s striped community but would not say what he believes Zorro intends to do with that information.

“No matter what his intentions, the site is a violation of the privacy and security of our striped citizens and a violation of the conditions of his sentence,” Addax said.

The SHCU Chief Inspector also confirmed that police initiated steps this morning to have the site taken down. A warrant has been issued for Zorro’s arrest.

OTD in 2016—ASIS head to replace Mink at UWT event

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ASIS HeadC. Astrid H. Ant, Head of The Park’s Ant Security and Intelligence Service (ASIS), will replace Chief Archon Raymond H. Mink as speaker at the 2016 University of West Terrier Open House on January 29, it was announced today.

Mink bowed out of the speaking engagement on January 17, a day after he was sworn in as 2016 Chief Archon, explaining that he felt his focus should be on governing at this time.

In a brief statement that appeared on the university’s web site, the UWT President and Governors thanked Ant for accepting the invitation “on such short notice.”

The ASIS head, who is perhaps best known for her leadership of the brilliant team that prevented the destruction of an entire Ant colony, will be speaking about the rôle that higher education plays in investigative police work and in the maintenance of interspecial harmony in general.

The university’s full announcement about the Open House appears on its web site.

Harmonious Hannah found in dumpster

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Harmonious Hannah

Harmonious Hannah, missing since September 13, was found this morning

DEVELOPING STORY
Harmonious Hannah has been found.

According to Park Police, the oversized stuffed toy was recovered early this morning from a dumpster outside The Park.

Hannah, together with her partner, Harmonious Humphrey, constituted the “harmonious pair” that the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS) introduced in July in an initiative to foster insterspecial harmony among youth.

Hannah had been missing since September 13, when she disappeared from her usual Stereotype Sunday spot. According to reports, she was last seen sitting with three young Elephants and a newborn Giraffe. Her partner, Harmonious Humphrey, has since represented the pair at each week’s Stereotype Sunday.

In a brief communiqué this morning, Park Police said a Park citizen alerted them to the discovery at approximately three o’clock this morning.

“Subsequent to the alert, Park Police attended at the site of a dumpster approximately seventeen metres east of The Park. There, we encountered the stuffed toy known as ‘Harmonious Hannah.’  After a thorough investigation of the area, Hannah was taken into custody and is now undergoing tests at the Park Police Crime Laboratory,” the communiqué said.

Police are expected to hold a press conference on the matter later today.

“Harmonious” pair newest tool to promote rapport among Park’s young

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Harmonious pair

Harmonious Humphrey (left) and Harmonious Hannah will make their debut on Sunday

Meet Harmonious Humphrey and Harmonious Hannah.

The pair of stuffed toys, whose creation was commissioned by the Department of Well-Being and Safety (DWBS), are set to make their professional debut this week, at July’s first Stereotype Sunday.

“We are very pleased to introduce them…our new mascots of interspecial harmony,” said DWBS Public Relations Director Cornelius Kakapo at a press gathering this afternoon. The gathering was held outside the Ancient, Open-Air Theatre, where the weekly event occurs.

The stuffed Animals, who stand five and a half feet tall, were available for photographs for only a short time today before they were whisked away to an undisclosed location. According to Kakapo, they won’t appear again until Sunday.

“We just wanted to give you a heads-up,” he told reporters, smiling wryly as he handed out information packets to the media.

This is the first initiative to promote interspecial harmony that has been aimed at youth, Kakapo said.

“Our youth are the future of The Park. We need to focus more on them, on training their minds and hearts, steering them in the direction of harmony, equality, and justice. Because it is far easier to plant a seed than it is to relocate a tree,” he said.

The stuffed pair will make the rounds at this week’s Stereotype Sunday, encouraging young Animals to ask questions about other species and to make new friends.

“We’ll be watching their [the harmonious pair’s] progress and tweaking their rôle along the way,” Kakapo said.

This week’s Stereotype Sunday will take place at the Ancient, Open-Air Theatre from 1:00 pm until 6:00 pm.

Interspecial strife casts shadow over Centre’s first anniversary celebration

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Centre for Interspecial Harmony logo

As the Centre for Interspecial Harmony (CIH) prepares to mark its first anniversary, the shadow cast by the rise in interspecial crime threatens to mar the celebration.

“It’s very worrying that this type of crime is growing, rather than receding,” said Dewi Rhinoceros, the Chair of the Centre’s Board of Directors, in an interview this afternoon.

The former Chief Archon, who was the force behind the establishment of the Centre, said she had hoped that we would be seeing a decrease in the number of incidents this far into zoocracy.

‘We know that economic stress aggravates every aspect of our life here in The Park and things have been very challenging, economically speaking, over the last few years. But I don’t think we’ve yet discovered what makes Animals actually turn on each other when in crisis. That is something that we are still trying to determine,” she said.

The Centre, which has as its mission the fostering of harmony among all species in The Park, runs educational programmes, hosts events, and funds research projects in association with the University of West Terrier.

The Rhinoceros said the Centre is currently funding one research project at UWT’s Department of Interspecial Studies, which is part of the Livingstone School of Economics and Social Science. Researchers there are studying the effects of interspecial tension on second and third generation Park citizens.

“We’re hoping that studying Animals who were born in The Park and who grew up with the values of interspecial harmony will lead us to a fuller understanding of why those values are being abandoned so frequently these days,” she said.

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