EDMONTON—Instead of fighting fire with fire, a brandjacking website is trying to delegitimize the anti-immigrant group Wolves of Odin by fighting it with furries.

Rather than serving as a landing page for the group, the site is plastered with risque art connected to furry culture — a community of animal enthusiasts that anthropomorphizes and dresses up as critters.

Brady Grumpelt, the Edmonton man behind the site, said he paid a web-savvy friend to register a domain with the group’s name and design it, which, according to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, was created on Saturday.

“The initial version was a lot more graphic,” Grumpelt admitted. “It’s not the most G-rated site in the world.”

Frustrated with the messaging and behaviour of groups like the Wolves of Odin, and a recent offshoot that calls itself The Clann, which is made up of former members, Grumpelt said the idea to turn the domain into a furry fan page came from the emblematic animal in the group’s name — and the fact that nobody else had reserved the internet address.

“I just wanted to take it away from somebody that might use it for hate,” Grumpelt added. “I’ll take whatever power I can away from them and use it for something else.

Read more: Wolves of Odin visit to Edmonton mosque prompts police investigation

“I think it’s way more effective just to make fun of people.”

The Wolves’ response, at least according to Alberta chapter leader Lloyd Thomas, is to let sleeping dogs lie.

“Somebody saw that and thought they could make a good joke out of it, and good on them,” Thomas said from Fox Creek, Alta., a three-hour drive northwest of Edmonton.

Recognizing the move was intended to poke fun at the group, Thomas said neither he nor the members he spoke to were offended. In fact, he was quick to note how impressed he was with the content.

“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” Thomas added. “Whoever drew those pictures, they’re a pretty good artist.”

While he disagrees with claims that label the Wolves of Odin a hate group, the Wolves of Odin HQ Facebook page, of which Thomas is an administrator, describes itself as an organization concerned with guarding against what it calls a “growing immigration crisis” in Europe to which it baselessly attributes an increase in crime. The group sees itself as a line of defence to protect the country’s “original inhabitants” from this perceived threat.

As for deploying furry fan art as a gambit, Courtney Plante, a psychology professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton who has studied the community and identifies with it, said members will likely meet it with mixed reviews.

On the one hand, he explained, the furry community is fairly progressive, and a valuable ally in the effort to belittle the anti-immigrant cause.

“On the other hand, you’re doing so by throwing furries under the bus by capitalizing on an existing stigmatizing belief about the group,” like the misconception that furries are deviants, and thus an undesirable group to be associated with.

Grumpelt, however, said the site isn’t intended as a slight against furries, and added that some have sent over their own art to feature on the site in support.

Since the site launched, Grumpelt has also reserved a domain in the name of The Clann, and after publicizing it on Reddit, he said other users have chipped in and reserved like-named addresses, all of which redirect to the furry fan page.

Witnessing the emergence of new groups springing up in the area, Grumpelt, and others like him, appear to be working just as fast to reserve domains, all in the hopes of channelling visitors to other causes.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

At the tail end of the page, a note explains that the domain is for sale for a $10,000 donation to Hate Free YEG, a grassroots campaign working to root out discrimination in Edmonton. Most recently, Grumpelt linked the site to a crowdfunding campaign aimed at removing hateful graffiti and creating inclusive events in the city.

In an email statement to StarMetro, Hate Free YEG said that it appreciates the gesture, but noted they have no dog in this fight.

A spokesperson from the campaign added that the organization has no idea who created the site, and, while it said it respects the proclivities of the furry community, the bawdy images on the website “are decidedly off-brand for us.”

Read more about: