While Fur & Loathing sounds like it could be a reality show about the real housewives of Moscow or a PETA-activist cell, it’s actually a podcast about a chemical-weapons attack at a furry convention attended by 4,500 people outside of Chicago in 2014. “Furry” as in people who achieve their fullest self-expression by dressing in plush animal costumes like the ones worn by sports-team mascots.
Podcaster Nicky Woolf, who formerly covered Internet culture for The Guardian, wanted to investigate the lack of closure in the case. No one has been arrested for what was essentially a chlorine-bomb attack in the hotel stairwell. Due to a rapid evacuation, there were no fatalities, but people were hospitalized and injured, and, as Woolf points out, this same gas was used in World War I to horrific effect. It didn’t help that there were issues with the way local police handled evidence from the scene.
