I’ve got a growing idea, the more I look at depictions of the Ozark Howler in popular media, that the Ozark Howler is kind of like a Rorschach test – an inkblot in which we see representations of our own frame of mind.

For instance, I see that it’s becoming popular to use the Ozark Howler as a character in role playing games. The thing about role playing games is that, even if our character is a dragon, or a goblin, or king of an immortal realm, whenever we portray that character, no matter how hard we try to be authentic to that alien being, we’re really just playing out an aspect of our own personalities.

So it is that when “Blueberry Kitty”, a “Christain” furry from Oklahoma, describes the Ozark Howler as a furry character she likes to inhabit, she depicts a certain iteration of the Howler that’s rather like herself.

She names her iteration of the Ozark Howler as Fursona Hunter, a female Ozark Howler. At first, Blueberry Kitty describes this Ozark Howler as “terrifying”, but quickly becomes affectionate in her relationship with her. B. Kitty writes, “Hunter is an Ozark howler which is a cat with a thicc body and horns. They are apart of native American legend and they are to belive to live in Oklahoma. Hunter is a female. Weapons are a spear, attali, knife, claws, teeth, horns. No one knows what she looked like as a human and they don’t really care. As long as she attacks that’s fine. She is an excellent hunter and good for defence. She can take a hit like a tank, so basically she is a meat shield. She is like a mother to one of her friends and will protect them to an infuriating degree. I honestly want to get a fursuit of her!”

Next, Blueberry Kitty fantasizes about her individual female Ozark Howler avatar getting her hair done, along with a sort of makeup job… even though her face is covered with fur. The Ozark Howler “doesn’t really like dolling up but she let her friend brush and dye parts of her fur,” she writes.

It doesn’t take a psychoanalyst to see this personification of the Ozark Howler as a projection of Blueberry Kitty’s own ambivalence toward standard feminine social roles, a combination of ferocity and gentle playfulness.

“Christain” indeed.



No one can accuse Blueberry Kitty of cultural appropriation. As an Oklahoman, she lives within the purported range of the Ozark Howler, and is certainly within the beast’s cultural range as a creature of Ozark mythology.

A traditional Ozark storyteller would say that Blueberry Kitty is getting the Ozark Howler all wrong, that it’s a fearsome beast, not at all civilized. But then, that’s the version of the Ozark Howler that suited the Ozarks culture of the past, from a time when inhabitants of the area were a bit more rough around the edges themselves, and more inclined to frightening acts of violence and intimidation.

These old Ozark storytellers, just as much as Blueberry Kitty, were making the Ozark Howler into a representation of their own personalities and preoccupations. The Ozark Howler is changing today, to become a clothes-wearing, hairstyling friend to the furry subculture, or a character in a role playing game, or an icon for a British rock band, but these transformations are in keeping with the ability to soak up cultural context that the Ozark Howler has always had.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that these same abilities are what enable other predator species, like fox and raccoon, to make a living while lurking in the more urban environments that typify Ozark communities today.