Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh, MySpace!
By Kathy Gilbert, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Jan. 24–Last November, a fire at the Chattanooga Zoo killed 14 animals and destroyed the zoo’s offices.
Jack DeBurro — a Sicilian donkey and zoo resident — immediately hoofed it to MySpace to tell his pals.
“Please pray for my friends at the zoo and get us through this difficult time. Thank you,” Jack wrote in his blog.
“This Is So Sad… So Sorry,” scribbled back Cutie Pie, a guinea pig.
MySpace has been in the news as a powerful social networking site and as a place where predators may lurk. But it also has become a place where nature’s creatures — engineered by their human companions — can commune.
Users such as Harold (the Duck), Flossie (the Sheep), Tweak (the Ferret), Maximus (the Bearded Dragon), Mr. Marbles (the Chipmunk) and a squirrel named Roo are grunting, mooing and squeaking to networks that number into the thousands.
Earl (the Bear), for example, has 1,498 friends.
More than 150 million people own MySpace sites. An unknown number pose as animals. Others write as stuffed animals, and some even set up sites for objects, such as sushi, a light switch or a piece of toast.
Animal site creators say their humorous pages point up MySpace’s lighter side.
“With so many negative things being pointed out recently about the Internet — and sometimes MySpace — I think it’s refreshing to have cute animals with their own sites,” said Stacey Walker, a 45-year-old Chattanooga administrative assistant who runs sites for Jack DeBurro and cats Mango Ze Tango and ZaaZaa Le Petite.
Some site owners say they do it for fun.
“It’s just goofy, nutty fun — a great way to lighten up,” said Jennifer Sidle, author of “Jack-Rabbit” and a 40-year-old broadcast writer in San Francisco.
Others confess they like to be silly without revealing their identity.
“It’s gratifying to have created something that seems to make people happy. And the anonymity gives you the ability to befriend people that you wouldn’t ordinarily seek out to be your friend,” said the creator of MySpace character Earl the Bear, a 33-year-old Los Angeles resident who goes by the single name Derek.
Many are operated by longtime animal lovers. Ms. Walker, for example, said she was “raised with cats.”
“I’ve also had frogs and raised crickets on my counter and kept mealworms in the refrigerator to feed them,” she added.
The inspiration for the Jack DeBurro site was a recent sojourn as a zoo volunteer.
Others use the space to promote animal welfare: Jack-Rabbit’s site, for example, posts a link to the House Rabbit Society (www.rabbit.org) and offers tips on rabbit care.
The MySpace wild kingdom has formed groups. Animal lovers also hold contests, host virtual birthday parties and post bulletins to their friends asking for prayers when their creatures fall sick.
And animal news travels fast on the MySpace grapevine.
When Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died in September, the news spread rapidly across MySpace’s animal sites.
“Animals all over the world were posting condolences and prayers for Steve’s family,” Ms. Walker said.
Creatures mainly correspond with other creatures; though some people, like Dr. Doolittle, virtually talk and walk with the animals, too.
Yet, for most, the line between whimsy and reality seems clear enough.
“Yes, I’m a grown man with gainful employment who somehow finds time to run a page for a fake bear,” Derek said. “But though I am speaking of Earl in the third person, I have not become Grizzly Man’s Timothy Treadwell (a bear enthusiast killed by a grizzly in 2003).
“I still realize that I am not actually a bear.”
MYSPACE MENAGERIE: Animal MySpace sites highly rated for humor:
–Hedgie: www.myspace.com/killerhedgie
–Lemur: www.myspace.com/papalemur
–Maximus: www.myspace.com/maximus660
–Sunshine: www.myspace.com/sillybunbun
Source: Stacey Walker
IF YOU POST: Tips for animal sites from the pros:
–Set up a free e-mail account for the animal on Yahoo or Hotmail.
–Peek at privacy options under Account Settings.
–Use lots of creative pictures.
–Give your animal a story and a personality, such as the surly parrot or the goat that hangs out on a red carpet.
–Don’t get upset with disrespectful users — just block them.
Sources: Stacey Walker, Derek (“Earl the Bear”), Jennifer Sidle
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