‘Being a furry is like wearing a superhero cape’

Scotiacon first launched in Inverness in 2011 but this year’s four-day convention is expected to be the largest yet, with 1,700 attending.

“It’s an opportunity to be silly for a weekend, where no-one is judging you,” Mr Smith says.

It features events such as a cash-free casino night, an art auction, fanfiction writing panels, a rave and a wine and cheese reception.

However, the convention and the furry fandom more widely is regularly the subject of controversy.

It is often associated with sexual fetishism and members of the fandom have been accused of being sexual “deviants” or misfits.

The convention does host events such as “writing furry erotica” but Mr Smith insists that furries are “badly represented” in the media and that fetishism is “not part of the furry identity”.

“We are one of the most misrepresented communities, and almost always in a negative way – it’s largely because people fear what they don’t know,” he says.

“We’re used to people saying ‘look at this debauchery’, but we aren’t a fetish event, it’s not what the convention is about.”

Fennick the firefox says it is just a hobby.

“It is no different to an anime convention or a comicon convention,” he says.