It wasn't long before one of the more anticipated events of winter hit Animalia and its colonies: Lunar New Year, specifically the Year of the Rabbit. While the recent surge of... bimbos has resulted in higher numbers of rabbit Animalians, only the "oldest" rabbits would be allowed to compete in the Mister and Miss Zodiac Competition. While this was resulting in a lot of "no fair" comments, especially online, this was deemed necessary because part of the competition's ideas was to break the "stereotype" of bunnies/rabbits being "breeding machines of low intelligence".
Of course, the celebration was considerably bigger at Heiya Island, but there was a minor issue that was being blown way out of proportion by sensationalists and fake news people. According to these people, Ami had made a deal with the Japanese Yakuza allowing them to control Animalian-based prostitution, but these stories were more about a lack of knowledge (cultural or otherwise) about what was really going on than anything else. The only thing Ami would say on the subject was that the people she had been talking to was that "that is their problem now, not mine." Though some of the concern was deemed justified since organized crime will go out of their way to control easy sources of large money, whether it is legal or not.
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Another new thing that was going on at this time was an indirect result of a new trend in Animalia: the opening of BARA houses in Animalia and its colonies, though because homosexuality had a major hand in "furry fandom culture" this was understandable. As usual, fake news people and sensationalists were resurrecting the old claims that Animalia was becoming a "homosexual gulag", though nobody really bought into it like they did in earlier times.
The "fastest growing" BARA house (in terms of apartments being bought up) was the one in Dino City, which was blamed (in some cases justified) on Texas' conservative ways. Fortunately, before heading back to school, Sophie and Roland did their own coverage of the new BARA House, which helped debunk some of the more recent claims about Animalia and its colonies becoming "homosexual gulags".
Of course, the brief surge in lesbian conversions due to the success of a New Mexico Whiptail uplifting as well as a conversion had slowed down when the whiptail lizard Animalians began noticing male lizard Animalians, much to the surprise of everyone. But because mating season wasn't until late spring/early summer, the project was postponed due to this new circumstance. Fortunately, this enabled them to plan ahead for things like a female version of the BARA House, but that was still on the drawing board for the time being.