Furries furore! Utah school hit with bomb threat after students revealed they ... trends now
The Utah school where pupils dressed as animals have allegedly been scratching and biting other students has now been hit with a bomb threat.
Kids walked out of Mt. Nebo Middle School in Payson on Wednesday to protest the 'furries' - and parents were today warned that the school has since received a threat.
In an email from Principal Kelly Taylor, parents were warned about a 'non-credible bomb threat' while being told they were 'welcome to keep your child home today'.
Taylor said Payson Police had conducted a 'thorough sweep' of the building and found 'no evidence to support the threat' in the email seen by DailyMail.com.
The nature of the menace or who was behind it were not disclosed. It came 24 hours after hundreds of students staged the protest against 'furry' pupils.
Students at Mt. Nebo Middle School in Utah staged a walkout in protest of their peers, who they claimed came to school dressed as 'furries'
The protest was sparked by an online petition urging the district to better enforce its dress code
The hours-long demonstration also came with a petition demanding a stricter dress code to combat the rabid 'furry' pupils they accused of terrorizing them.
A 'furry' is anyone with a strong interest in anthropomorphic animals. Enthusiasts often don full-body animal costumes and gather at 'furry' conventions.
However, spokesman for the Nebo School District Seth Sorensen said stories about terrorizing furries were 'completely unfounded'.
Sorensen said that last week 'students were not treating each other respectfully and things were occurring that they just did not feel were appropriate and conducive to education'.
But he said that there hadn't been any incidents of students wearing masks or animal costumes, or any reports of animal-like behavior including biting and licking.
Kelsey James, a spokesperson for the Utah State Board of Education, said that a small group of students had been wearing headbands with animal ears, prompting other pupils to throw food at them, according to KSL.com.
She said the school sent a letter to parents about this.
The letter reminded students of the dress code, which says 'jewelry, accessories, tattoos, hair, facial hair and other elements of a student's appearance that draw undue attention, distract, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the learning atmosphere at school or at school activities and events, or that create a health, safety, or welfare issue are prohibited.'
In an email from Principal Kelly Taylor, parents were warned about a 'non-credible bomb threat' while being told they were 'welcome to keep your child home today'
After school employees spoke with the headband-wearing students because they had been 'a little bit of a disruption', the students stopped wearing them, according to Sorensen.
The letter also warned the food-throwers that 'creating a hostile, threatening, humiliating, or abusive environment is not permitted'.
'As that message went out, somehow, parts of that message were, we believe, misunderstood,' Sorenson said.
'Individuals took to social media to share their interpretations of the message, and it kind of turned into something wild and crazy.'
Parents on social media blasted the furry furore as 'embarrassing' and 'so stupid' - with some standing up for the kids who allegedly dressed as pets, and others saying the other students had a right to protest the odd behavior.
'I have seen with my own eyes students dressed with tails and ears and barking and pushing and attacking other kids at the school,' one father said.
'These students don't feel safe at school they report things to the office and do get told "just be nice, it's fine".'
Another parent called the furore the latest example of 'degeneracy in kids schools'.
The allegations also drew condemnation from members of the costumed community themselves.
The campaign, titled 'Students for Humans at School, not animals aka furries,' racked up over 1,000 signatures in a matter of days
'It's crazy that it's escalated to this point where these kids are being so distracting to their peers that their peers want to stage a walkout,' a furry identified as 'Strudel' told ABC 4 in Utah.
Around 75 parents and students gathered on the sidewalk by the school campus, holding up posters with messages ranging from 'Compelled speech is not free speech' to 'Stop brainwashing us!'
The demonstration was preceded by a Change.org petition titled 'Students for Humans at School, not animals aka furries' that went live on Sunday.
While the initial target was 500 signatures, the campaign quickly racked up more than 1,000 of them. The petition had received over 1,430 signatures.
It calls for stronger enforcement of Section 3.8.1 of the district's dress code, which prohibits 'elements of a student's appearance that draw undue attention, distract, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the learning atmosphere at school.'
Examples provided are jewelry, accessories, tattoos, hair and facial hair.
'Please help us in taking care of our children's well being and safety while at school,' the petition begs.
However, it seemed the students had a different concern. Several middle schoolers lobbed accusations of violence at their peers, including alleged instances of biting.
'Multiple of my friends have been bitten by the furries and scratched, and the school won't do anything about it when we tell them,' one student said in a video.
'They're barking at us in class. Then they try to bite peoples' ankles. We need them out of our environment. Save it for the forest,' another said.
Some students displayed signs reading 'Compelled speech is not free speech' and 'I will not comply.' Some alleged that their 'furry' peers were biting and scratching other students
A representative for the district claimed the concerns behind the protest, including rumors circulating online,
