Lars Sanford's story of success was an unusual one. Technically, he didn't really do anything to get where he was now. It was more like others that were connected him led him to success. He started out as a single father whose wife divorced not long after they had a son and he was left to raise Philip on his own. Then Philip managed to make a small fortune due to an investment bubble and used it to pay for a conversion into a fennec fox Animalian. Philip soon attracted the attention of Joanne Mabel, a fennec vixen and the richest woman in Animalia. Joanne's affection for Philip caused her grown daughter, Nicole, to seek out Lars and convince him to convert. It was largely a ploy to make Joanne jealous or entice her to date someone of her generation. Instead, Lars and Nicole ended up becoming a couple and later marrying. So not only did Lars end up with a vigorous vulpine body, a foxy wife, and a millionaire fashion designer for a daughter-in-law/mother-in-law (which can get a confusing), but his ex-wife came to Animalia in an attempt to cash in on her son's success and ended up becoming a rabbit Animalian in his employ.
Of course, Lars's active involvement was minimal and he didn't really do much more than be a loving father and later a loving husband. Lars would readily admit that his success story is largely circumstantial in nature, but that has inspired quite a few divorced men to come to Animalia for conversion. Obviously, there was no guarantee that any of them would end up marrying a millionaire or becoming related to a millionaire. And the idea of their exes becoming Animalians that are lower on the food chain than them are pipe dreams at best. (Rabbits aren't even on a fennec's usual menu.) But plenty of men have come out of nasty divorces and want to turn their lives around, make their exes rue leaving them.
There are quite a few reason why these men got divorced. Quite often, their wives had been shrewish and henpecked their husbands mercilessly. Some wives were caught being unfaithful and left with their new lovers. And a few men had ex-husbands whose relationships didn't work out for some reason or another. There are plenty of stories of why these men have come for conversion, but possibly the most sympathetic one is the one who is doing an interview with Animalia Ambassadoria.
==========
"So, Frank, may I still call you Frank?" asked Minnie.
"I think I better get used to calling myself Frankie," said the herm cow Animalian. Unlike most of the other cow Animalians, Frankie's hide was the distinct black and white of a Holstein. This naturally meant that hir breasts were very large as befitting a dairy cow.
"Ok, Frankie, I'm sure there are plenty of questions to ask, so let's start at the beginning," said Minnie, "May I ask why your wife broke up with you?"
"Well, most of it boiled down to her not wanting to have any children who might inherited my condition," said Frankie.
"And what condition was that?" asked Minnie.
"It was Jacobs syndrome," said Frankie. Minnie gave hir a blank look. "You may know it better as XYY syndrome," said Frankie. Minnie still looked blank. "I had an extra Y chromosome."
"An extra Y chromosome? That's actually a thing? How is that even possible?" asked Minnie.
Frankie chuckled and said, "That's not the first time I've heard those questions. I've asked them plenty of times myself. But it's a uncommon genetic disorder, only 1 in a thousand men have them. For most men, they're mostly normal. They might be a bit taller than usual and they have a slightly higher risk of learning disabilities. But they're usually as fertile as the rest."
"So what's the problem?" asked Minnie.
"Well, there's a bit of a... I'm not sure if it can be called a superstition. Let's say there was thought to be a correlation between extra Y chromosomes and criminal tendencies," said Frankie.
"How's that?" asked Minnie.
"Well, the 'logic' is simple. A Y chromosome make you male. Extra Y chromosomes make you more male. Males are more aggressive and violent. Therefore an extra Y chromosome will make you even more aggressive and violent," said Frankie.
"I don't think that's quite right," said Minnie.
"No, that 'theory' has been discredited. But my wife believed that and she didn't want our kids being like that," said Frankie, "So she divorced me and told everyone she could that I had XYY and should be considered bad father material."
"Wow, that's pretty cruel," said Minnie.
"And, I might add, I had never shown any sort of criminal tendency," said Frankie, "So I came to Animalia to start over."
"Ok, so why become a herm cow?" asked Minnie.
"I don't know if just becoming a normal Animalian would have balanced my chromosome problem. Hermaprhodites seem to have it balanced out so I went with that," said Frankie.
"Though why a cow? A dairy cow no less?" asked Minnie.
"Well, I thought I needed to be a little more feminine to balance my 'extra-masculinity'. And I'll never have to shop for milk again," said Frankie.
"Just one last question: there are Swiss Brown Animalians. Why a Holstein?" asked Minnie.
"I like their patterns," admitted Frankie.
"Well, thank you for your time," said Minnie, "I hope you adjust well to your new life."
"I mostly want to get the word out to anyone else who has multiple Y chromosomes," said Frankie, "They don't have to follow my example exactly, but I hope conversion can help them, even if they have more than 2 Y chromosomes."
"More than 2? How high can it get?" asked Minnie.
"I've heard it can get as high as 4, but that's extremely rare," said Frankie, "And apparently some women can have up to 3 X chromosomes."
"Well, that's beyond my scope of knowledge," said Minnie, "But I'm sure your message will be spread."