It was a month ago or so, when someone first told me about the ‘Furries.’ Maybe you have heard about them, or maybe you have not.

My guess is that if you do a lot of looking at Social Media, or are a member of certain groups, you probably have.

If you have not heard about them, don’t worry. You are not missing much.

This person asked me if I knew about the Furries, and whether I was planning to do a story about them in the Faribault County Register. I answered no, I didn’t know anything about them, and I probably was not going to do a story unless I found out something about them and how it might be something for the readers of the Register.

They explained that Furries are young kids who ‘identify’ as an animal. And that schools across the country are letting these kids come to school and act like they are the animal which they ‘identify’ with being.

This person told me they wear costumes like a cat or dog, bark and meow instead of talking, and the cats lick their paws and use a litter box.

And the teachers and the schools are letting them do this. Even encouraging it.

I told that person back then that it sounded like a bunch of hooey to me. But, they insisted it was true.

Now, before you get all up in arms, let me tell you that this whole thing about Furries in the schools is just not true, at least as far as I can tell.

It seems that somebody, somewhere, made it all up to make a point about young kids in school and gender identity and orientation. I guess the point was that not only is there gender identification, but also species identification.

Really?

But unfortunately this false story about the Furries is being spread far and wide.

That is one of the major issues with Social Media. If you spread a false rumor in person, only a few people hear about it. Post it on Facebook and millions could share it and see it….and unfortunately believe it, whether it is true or not.

So now last week another local person brought up this Furry thing, claiming it was all true, and going further to say there were two kids in the Blue Earth Area Elementary School who are allowed to be Furries. One is a cat and one is a rabbit, they said.

Again, let me say that before you get all up in arms and storm the next BEA School Board meeting, let me make it clear that it is not true. Totally false.

Because I am a newspaper editor, I believe in going right to the person who knows and asking them. So I called BEA superintendent Mandy Fletcher and asked her straight out.

She was pretty shocked that someone thought there were any Furries in the BEA Schools.

She said no, there are absolutely no Furries roaming the halls at BEA. Or using special kitty litter boxes in the restrooms.

Fletcher added that some schools have had people all upset over this, even though it is not true. A quick Google search shows schools in Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska have had irate parents and others upset when the heard there were Furries in the school and that it was being catered to.

One legislator in Nebraska was all upset about it and then later had to apologize when he learned it was all just fake.

All this just proves what I have preached a time or two (or three) in the past. You just can’t believe everything you see or read on the Internet, whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, or even when you Google something. Remember just because it is on the Internet, does not make it true.

There is a lot of fake news, conspiracy theories, and people posting or reposting all kinds of things whether they know it to be true or not.

I know the cynics out there will point out that I mentioned doing a Google search about Furries to learn that they were a made up thing. And yet I said to not trust Google.

Well, you need to be cautious of what Google is showing you. One of the items I saw was from the New York Times. They are generally known to be pretty reliable when it comes to the news.

Most newspapers are. It is something we take some pride in, attempting to reliably and accurately give you the news. Even small town weekly community newspapers like the Register.

We try to steer away from printing the unsubstantiated rumor, the opinionated blog, or the wild Facebook post.

Remember, they actually can put it on the Internet even if it isn’t true.

Furries in the school? Man, that could have been a great April Fools Day story.

And maybe that is what it was. After all, I first heard about it back in April.