🐯 July 29 is Global Tiger Day, established to bring attention to the plight of wild tigers around the world. There are fewer than 3,000 tigers estimated in the wild, and every year, every day, brings new threats in the form of poaching, habitat loss, and conflicts with humans and livestock. In the last 50 years, we've lost two subspecies of tiger forever (the Javan and Caspian), and the South China tiger is now extinct in the wild.

Learn more about these beautiful and highly endangered animals and help save wild tigers by supporting programs and organizations that:

• Reject Traditional Chinese and Asian medicines that harvest tiger parts
• Protect habitats and establishing wildlife corridors; and
• Prosecute poaching

With your help, we can ensure that there will be many Global Tiger Days to come.

And if you know a tiger, be sure to give him or her an extra hug.

Today is Master Lion's birthday. I've already given him his present, but I wanted to give something to other lions, too. So I'll donate $1 to Panthera for Panthera for every happy birthday message sent to my master this week. You can send a shout, send a tweet with the hashtag #lionbirthday, or just reply to this journal entry (if you send a shout, you'll need to let me know, too, since I won't be able to see them if they scroll off the bottom).

Happy birthday, Master!

I wanted to post a quick follow up to thank everyone who left a comment or participated in the discussion I'd posted about the 2012 Presidential election the other day. I'll admit that I was a bit reluctant to make a post about serious political issues, particularly when the environment this time around was so divisive. But i was very pleased that so many people took the time to leave their respectful, reasoned comments.

The election is (finally) behind us, and whether you voted for President Obama or Gov. Romney, I hope that that same spirit will help us come together to solve the very significant and pressing issues we need to tackle in the next four years.

Thanks again,
-GT

P.S. As promised, I archived the journal entry. For those of you who missed it, it's in my scraps
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9217240/

Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with a number of incredibly talented artists that I've discovered here on FA. But sadly, very few of those interactions result in lasting relationships.  jocarra has been a notable exception. She's the amazing force behind two of the the most popular pieces I've commissioned: Presentation showing a typical inspection by my master, and Taken by the Majesty, which depicts a recent trip Master and I took to Las Vegas. These, or any of the pieces in her gallery, really, show off Jocarra's great talent, particularly for realism and fantasy. But what they don't show is how very nice she is and how much care and attention she puts into every piece.

She and her fiance are in the process of moving to Scotland, and recently, she's had a terrible setback after some problems at the UK border. Now, her fiance is there and she's back in Canada, waiting to earn back enough money to try again. I know all too well how hard it is to be away from someone you love; I spend much of the year over 5,000 miles away from my master myself. So I'm very sympathetic to how it must feel for her. She's offering some emergency commissions at prices which really are a bargain given her talent. If you're considering a commission, I'd recommend her without hesitation, and I know that she's appreciate the help.

And if you're not watching and following  jocarra, you're missing out.

Five years ago today was the day I knew. Not that I wanted to serve my master; that day came earlier. And not that I would wear his collar proudly; that day was much later. But five years ago was when I knew that the love I felt for my lion was deep and true and everlasting. And, more importantly, that it was a love we shared.

It is an indescribable feeling to serve a master who is also my mate, to love my lion as much as I lust after him, and every day I realize how lucky I am to be his.

Happy fifth anniversary, Master!

I am officially old

(mostly a comment to get my previous journal entry (which is quite old itself) off the front page.

I must admit that I've been a little bit disappointed in the response to my call for charity the other day, but there are still a few days left to help big cats.

All you have to do is link to any of your tiger art (or lion and tiger art) that's been posted since last weekend. Every tiger link is worth $5 to Panthera charities. Every tiger and lion link is worth $10. Stories, fursuits, music, and photographs count, too, so there's no excuse not to help big cats.

Full rules are http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2471288/, but basically every doodle, every poem, every sketch counts. If your favorite artist has posted tiger artwork in the last few days, get him or her to link to it, and that's a little more to help these magnificent animals. What could be easier?

Together we can help to save lions and tigers in the wild.

Thanks,
-GT

First off, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who's watched, favorited, and especially to those of you who've taken the time to comment on the items in my journal. For a time, I kept trying to craft individual shouts back to each of you, and somewhere - about 100 watches ago - I fell behind and never caught up, but I read every comment and shout, and I appreciate every watch and favorite. I do hope that you also give some of your appreciation to the talented artists that create the work.

Speaking of appreciation and talented artists, I wanted to do something special to thank everyone on FA that has contributed great big cat artwork here. As my master recently tweeted, tigers are critically endangered, with fewer than 3,000 wild tigers left worldwide. That's fewer in the wild than there are in captivity in just the United States (according to some estimates, fewer than in the state of Texas alone). Lions aren't doing a whole lot better, either, with populations in Kenya and other African states falling prey to poisoning, habitat loss, and hunting.

To raise the visibility of big cats here on FA and elsewhere, and in honor of Anthrocon and the state of New York finally getting it together for marriage equality, I'm opening up a charity drive for the next week. Here's how it works:

Create or commission new art (stories, fursuits, music, photos, etc.) containing a tiger, I'll donate $5 to one of the Panthera charities, organizations devoted to the conservation of wild cats. For pieces containing both a lion and a tiger, I'll donate $5 more. This isn't a commission contest - the artwork doesn't have to be of me, though gifts of me and/or my master are always appreciated. It just has to contain a recognizable tiger (and optionally a lion), and you have to link to it from the comments here. There are some other "details", below, but that's the basic plan. It's just a way for me to say thanks - and to encourage more big cat stuff here on FA.

Please pass this along, and thanks again for your support and your support of big cats. Rowl!

Rules
1. Create or commission a new FA submission containing (or referencing) one or more tigers, or tiger(s) and lion(s). Submissions can be artwork, animation, photographs, stories, music, or any other format acceptable for posting on FA, including adult art. Artwork must have been created on or after midnight PDT, June 25, 2011. Submissions containing or referencing gore, scat, watersports, or babyfurs are ineligible.
2. Post a link to the submission in the comments below before 11:59pm Pacific Saturday July 1.
3. Submissions need not be of or contain me, my master, or any other specific lion or tiger. However, any artwork depicting me must include my collar, and if of me, I can not be in an adult setting with anyone other than my lion.
4. For each unique tiger submission, I will donate $5 to one or more of the charities listed at http://www.panthera.org/ (choice of charity is at my discretion), up to $250 total. For each unique lion and tiger submission, I will donate an additional $5, up to $100 total. For the purposes of the tally, ligers will be considered lions and tiglons (aka tigons or tions) will be considered tigers. For photographs, multiple photos of the same subject (animal, fursuit, statue, etc.) will be considered a single submission.
5. Art doesn't have to be created specifically for this drive, so encourage anyone who happens to create big cat art in the next week to stop by and leave a comment. Hopefully that encourages some of you who've gotten shiny new artwork at Anthrocon to post it.

I reserve the right to amend these rules if I've forgotten anything, but the idea is to have fun, raise some awareness, and encourage new artwork. So please spread the word and help do something for big cats!

I can't believe that I'm within striking distance of receiving 10,000 page views here. I am very grateful to all of the folks that have stopped by, and especially to those who have taken the time to leave a comment on a story or favorited a picture. I'm also thankful to and honored by all of the very talented artists who have rendered me (and in many cases my master as well).

I'm not much of an artist, so I can't offer any gift art or anything for the 10,000th viewer, but I can offer each one of you my gratitude for being part of my little corner of FA. I hope you'll continue to enjoy what you see here, and that you'll keep leaving me your comments. I really appreciate them!

When I was younger, and perhaps a bit more naive, I would fantasize that one day I would meet someone to whom I could give myself completely - someone who would capture my heart as well as tame my body. In my dreams, I would serve a master who could train me to be their perfect slave while also being my perfect mate. Such a relationship is incredibly rare; I don't think I realized quite how rare when I was wishing for it all those years ago.

But, it turns out, I'm one of the very lucky ones. My master found me and took me to be his, and today we mark our anniversary. At times I can't quite remember what life was like before I served him, and at other times, it seems the years we've been together have passed in the blink of an eye. I can't imagine being with a better master, a more loving mate, or a sexier lion.

Happy anniversary, Master. You are living proof that even the most fantastic dreams and fantasies can come true.

Today (Jan. 27) is my master's birthday, and, sadly, the first time in many years that I won't be with him to celebrate it. Work dictated that I return back to the states just a day too soon.

If you see him around, be sure to give him a shout and wish him happy birthday. And when you do, let him know his tiger is always thinking of him.

Happy Birthday, Master!

Despite good intentions in my last journal, I've been very bad at keeping up with all of you who've honored me with your watches and favorites, and for that I apologize. I've also been bad at posting the wonderful sketches and pictures that a number of very talented artists have done for me.

So I'm hoping to get around to fixing both. Over the next week or so, I'll be posting some of the older artwork I've commissioned but have never posted here. Some you may have seen at the original artists' pages, and others will be new. And after I've gotten a little more up-to-date, I'll post a new photo or two.

Thanks as always for your support and your comments (even if I don't acknowledge them on time).

It's been a busy couple of months for this tiger, and I've neglected to post much. But more importantly, I've also neglected to send out notes for those who have watched me of late. Thanks to you, I've just crossed 6800 pageviews and 300-some watchers. I know that to some artists, that's not a ton (I know that there are some artists' individual pictures that get more than 6800 pageviews!) but since most of my work is pretty personal, it means a lot to me that you'd choose to view, watch, and favorite what I post here. And for those of you who take the extra time to comment, a very special thank you, since it lets me know what you like, what I should be posting more of, and how to make what I do post here better.

Over the next week or so, I'll get back in my rhythm of sending out thanks to my watchers (I'm anal that way). While I've never sent out thanks for individual favorites, I do appreciate those, too. As part of my sweep to get caught up some of you will get a note from me for a watch you left weeks ago. I apologize in advance for the delay; even though you may only hear from me every so often, I do take the time to look at your profiles and try to get a sense for who's keeping their eye on me. That must be just the tiger instinct kicking in.

In the meantime, if there's something you like in my gallery, whether a photo or a drawing that someone has done for me, please let me know. If there's something you'd like to see more of, give me a shout. If there's artwork that you think I'll like, pass it along. And if for some reason you just want to know what I'm up to, feel free to follow me on Twitter growltiger (I'll have to approve your request).

Thanks, and thanks again for your interest in my gallery!

My master has asked me to ask you, the readers of this journal, whether you would like to watch a live video stream of me doing one of my regular workouts in my rubber tiger suit:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2489477/

No naked parts would be on display, but my master thinks I would still look very sexy doing my workout in rubber and wants to show me off, so if you'd like to watch me, please leave a comment.

Today is my master  mwongozi's birthday. If you see him, wish him a happy one!

Happy New Year, everyone! It's the Year of the Tiger!

For over a year, I've left all of my unread journal entries around in my New Journals listing, thinking that I'd go back one day and review all of them, find out what the artists I've watched were up to. But with the new year approaching, I think it's time that I faced up to the fact that I'm not going to read them and if I did, they'd be so old that any comments or insight I'd get would be useless.

So, for New Year's, I'm going to nuke my unread journals and start anew. Sorry to all those who've done amazing things this year that I didn't get to read about, but I look forward to hearing of all your adventures in 2010 - the Year of the Tiger

(and yes, I realize that the people I watch and those that watch me are asymmetric, but there's got to be some overlap)...

It's been a great year, and it's been great sharing it with all of you. A very special thanks to all of the amazing artists who have used their considerable talents to draw pictures of myself and my master:  turbinedivinity,  jocarra,  taurinfox,  krayne,  kotenokgaff,  bagheera,  azelyn, and  ebonytigress. Thank you to everyone for your comments and feedback this year. I really appreciate each and every one.

If you're so inclined, you can also follow me on Twitter growltiger.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

No, not you. I'm extremely appreciative (and, I must admit, still surprised) by the numbers of you who honor me by watching me here.

{rant on}
But  Jelethorim, who I don't know and haven't interacted with before today, hit one of my hot buttons when he commented on a journal posting by  Jocarra, who I also don't know except for my interactions with her on a commission she did for me a while back. He took issue with the price that the artist was charging for her commissions, and it set me off.

Really, people... artists pour their time and talent and passion into the work they do. If we're lucky, some of them let us tap into all of that to create art that we get to shape and direct. I find the prices that a some artists charge for that opportunity to be ridiculously low.

Look at the banner for this site (I'm obviously confident enough in the banner selection process that I think that this challenge will endure). How much time and effort do you think went into that? Now imagine that instead of being driven by the current holiday or season, that all that effort was directed by you. Isn't that worth a few bucks?

I know that times are tough right now and that people who would otherwise want to support artists through commissions don't have a lot to give. But that's just as true for the artists who would take them. If we want to raise the bar of quality in the furry art world; if we want to encourage those artists who are starting to draw their first felines or clicking on OpenCanvas for the first time, then we need to take steps to end the idea that you have to be starving to be an artist.

No one wants to pay more for something they can get for less, but the "artists" in question aren't the rock bands that you're paying hundreds of dollars to go see in concert or the megaplex that charges you $5 for a sip of soda. These are people in our community who are sharing their love of prose or ink or digital graphics with us. They deserve our thanks and they deserve our support.

{rant off}

So I'll ask this of all of you in this, my first really serious journal posting here. Please find an artist that you respect and admire and go and make a journal post or a shout on their page or an unsolicited comment about how great they are. Then tell your friends to do the same. I'd love to see an artist appreciation meme spread through the community here as quickly as the latest icon craze :-P

Thank you, and thanks to Jelethorim for inadvertently kicking this off.

-GT

A short while ago, I commissioned the extremely talented  azelyn to create a portrait of my mate and master  mwongozi. She recently finished it and posted it on her gallery at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2492532 .

I think it's gorgeous. And a wonderful likeness, though I think the real thing is even more so Please check it out and give Azelyn a shoutout for her great work.

I'm off to be spend two weeks with my master in the UK. Can't wait to see him again.
(One of these days, I'll write about something other than my trips to come or go see my master...)

I returned on Sunday from a week spent in the UK visiting my master. It was a good week, as weeks spent in his company always are, but much too brief (as weeks spent in his company always are), and the flight home back to California always seems much longer than the flight there.

It's good to be at home, where the weather is (finally) better, and the cost of living is more reasonable (never thought I'd be saying that about Northern California), but each time I get on the plane to come back, it's a little harder to leave, and my master's absence leaves a little larger hole.

I guess that means I need to be thinking about my next trip...

Earlier this week, I had a dream.

Now that in itself wouldn't be all that remarkable; I have dreams (and remember them) all the time. But this one was different in that it featured FA! I was just waking up (in the dream, that is), and I reached for my laptop. I opened it up to find that overnight, I'd had a dozen new watchers. I was contemplating why that possibly could be, and then I woke up (not in the dream this time). Of course, I immediately reached over to my laptop and opened it up to FA and... no new watchers.

Now if I'm dreaming about being watched on FA, that must mean I'm either spending too much time here, or I'm becoming vain (or both). But I did figure it was as good a time as any to kick off this journal. I don't suspect that I'll be posting in it much (I have a LiveJournal account I've not updated in about 3 years), but I guess you never know.

And maybe sometime next week, I'll wake to find that I really did get a dozen new watchers. That'd be kind of neat (ok, I really am becoming vain) .