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Doug Spink 1971-2020

Lovecat

Lovecat

Tourist
Douglas Bryan LeConte-Spink passed away Thursday morning at his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Those of us who knew and collaborated with Doug are deeply pained by his loss. I certainly am. I only knew Doug in the final year of his life after reading Uniquely Dangerous, but in that short time I found him to be an amazing individual - caring and deeply compassionate, uncompromising and steadfast, courageous, generous with his support and encouragement, brilliant and hilariously funny. He spent his final year initiating and fostering the first zoo podcast in the world, working tirelessly to open an avenue for zoos to speak for and of ourselves in our own voices, and was not stopped by the pain and impairments of the aggressive cancer he was fighting. He fought it with everything he had, as was his way. He was defiant to the very end.

I only had the opportunity to meet him once in person, but it was an honor to do so, and I'm proud to call him my friend. We will continue your work, Doug, in gratitude, and carrying your spirit with us. Rest well, friend. You've earned it.

Namaste.
 
Ah, shit. So thats what your tweet was about, i already thought so. With him, we lost one of the loudest voices for the zoo community and zoo awareness. Some loved him, some hated him, but all that doesn't phase the incredible work and effort he put his soul and passion in. He will be missed tremendously, but he sure left a mark on this planet with his tremendous courage for all the zoos everywhere in the world.
 
Holy shit, Douglas Spink has passed away?

I'm sorry to hear that. Obviously I never knew him, but I've read about his life. Though opinion was divided on him, he certainly was bold.

Wow, he was young, that's unfortunate.

I wonder how many other pioneers out there are still alive...?
 
I was fortunate enough to have been able to have been able to talk with doug.

Truly doug loved the zoo community, and did all in his power to put our community interests forward in his life. That is worthy of our respect and for giving us advise through experience of how we should behave as a community. We had many conversations about his forum and this forum, and what is important to bring zoos together to solve our problems.

We are all imperfect, and we have made our mistakes. Doug wasn't any different but he didn't allow them to hinder what he wanted to do for all of us.

Truly, I will miss him. We lost a titan of knowledge and experience. We lost a fellow zoophile. We lost a friend.

Rest well fausty, may we meet again someday on the rainbow bridge.

?
 
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Wow... I suspected as much. I knew very little about him before the podcast, just random newspaper articles, podcast interviews, and rumors from internet trolls. Hearing him over the last year, warts and all, made it clear to me for the first time how much more there was to him than being the guy who got caught.

He was opinionated and argumentative and knowledgeable and fullhearted. I hope his work grows beyond him, as he took such pains to ensure.
 
I also knew him only indirectly the last 20 years, but know this is a huge loss to his friends and family. His passing is also a huge loss to the zoo community. Nobody has been a bigger focus for zoo activities and the issues we face than fausty - I will miss his overriding voice, especially on ZTT.

Rest in peace Fausty, as you never got to rest in life.
 
Pillar said:
No disrespect here, but who was he?
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Douglas Spink, otherwise known as Fausty, was a zoosexual activist. He lived a solitary life with his dogs on his farm (relatively solitary) He was featured in a piece of investigative journalism, "Uniquely Dangerous", by Carreen Maloney. He was also featured in a VICE interview.

As for his personal life, apparently Spink was gay. He graduated from Reed College.

I have yet to read the book about him.
 
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A truly irreplaceable loss for zoo advocacy. I was always amazed by his courage, wit, tenacity, and humor in the face of all the turmoil he went through in life. I admired him greatly.

RIP Doug Spink. My condolences to his friends, family, and the ZTT team.
 
ferritlove said:
I also knew him only indirectly the last 20 years, but know this is a huge loss to his friends and family. His passing is also a huge loss to the zoo community. Nobody has been a bigger focus for zoo activities and the issues we face than fausty - I will miss his overriding voice, especially on ZTT.

Rest in peace Fausty, as you never got to rest in life.
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FAUSTY? Crap, I never put that and Doug's names together. I looked forward to reading his posts on Beast Forum as sunrays of sanity in our confused world. RIP Doug/Fausty. We are diminished by your passing.
 
Only knew of him from ZTT podcast and a little background research. Truly sorry for his passing. RIP someone who never gave up the fight in the face of adversity and overwhelming condemnation. Regardless of you're opinion of his life and views, you have to respect that. My heart goes out to Toggle and all those he left behind.
 
IHO said:
We all make poor choices in life. That's how we learn. Doug made a choice to smuggle drugs and got busted. The "bestiality farm" rap is a total sham. He was setup a bit for that raid by some people in his life that had monetary interest in one of his horses. That said, I do agree the drug rap hurt his credibility with the anti-zoo bigots and related court battles where the raid on his home and animal family was concerned. It would have been much better for him as an advocate for zoophilia and bestiality if that cocaine thing hadn't happened. Such is life.
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There's poor choices, then there's really poor choices. But, like I said, I will not comment on this matter any further.
 
IHO said:
That said, I do agree the drug rap hurt his credibility with the anti-zoo bigots and related court battles where the raid on his home and animal family was concerned. It would have been much better for him as an advocate for zoophilia and bestiality if that cocaine thing hadn't happened. Such is life.
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Even in the public sphere there was a lot more, more recently, IHO, but as Hostler did I'll say my condolences and leave it at that.
 
Doug had been pursuing a law degree at the time of his death, incidentally. I wish I could have seen him live long enough to complete it. He would have made a hell of a lawyer.

As it happens defended himself successfully in court in the ‘machete’ case irbyz thoughtfully linked above. That defense was not reported, but it was why he was able to work on investigating the infamous animal torture ring of Tim Amarosa and snake thing et al as well as start the podcast.
 
saddlebum66 said:
Apparently those singing his praises are not people who had contact with the guy. Fortunate people, I think. Spink MAY have done some good in the World, but I'm not convinced it outweighed the damage. That basically adds up to neutral. As someone above said, Such is Life.
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Thanks, we had extensive contact with the guy. And we're very fortunate, indeed, to have had him in our lives.
 
Lovecat said:
Douglas Bryan LeConte-Spink passed away Thursday morning at his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Those of us who knew and collaborated with Doug are deeply pained by his loss. I certainly am. I only knew Doug in the final year of his life after reading Uniquely Dangerous, but in that short time I found him to be an amazing individual - caring and deeply compassionate, uncompromising and steadfast, courageous, generous with his support and encouragement, brilliant and hilariously funny. He spent his final year initiating and fostering the first zoo podcast in the world, working tirelessly to open an avenue for zoos to speak for and of ourselves in our own voices, and was not stopped by the pain and impairments of the aggressive cancer he was fighting. He fought it with everything he had, as was his way. He was defiant to the very end.

I only had the opportunity to meet him once in person, but it was an honor to do so, and I'm proud to call him my friend. We will continue your work, Doug, in gratitude, and carrying your spirit with us. Rest well, friend. You've earned it.

Namaste.
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I wasn't sure who I was reading about at first but I love the podcast. This is really sad. I never heard about any of the stuff before that but from what I knew he was a great guy. People make mistakes, and people can change. I wish we had more time, I would have liked to meet him.
 
Oh my, I was just visiting the forum a found the notification on the top.... things looked to be going well at where I am on ztt podcast. So much to learn with him, what a great lost for the world...
 
Lovecat said:
Douglas Bryan LeConte-Spink passed away Thursday morning at his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Those of us who knew and collaborated with Doug are deeply pained by his loss. I certainly am. I only knew Doug in the final year of his life after reading Uniquely Dangerous, but in that short time I found him to be an amazing individual - caring and deeply compassionate, uncompromising and steadfast, courageous, generous with his support and encouragement, brilliant and hilariously funny. He spent his final year initiating and fostering the first zoo podcast in the world, working tirelessly to open an avenue for zoos to speak for and of ourselves in our own voices, and was not stopped by the pain and impairments of the aggressive cancer he was fighting. He fought it with everything he had, as was his way. He was defiant to the very end.

I only had the opportunity to meet him once in person, but it was an honor to do so, and I'm proud to call him my friend. We will continue your work, Doug, in gratitude, and carrying your spirit with us. Rest well, friend. You've earned it.

Namaste.
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he apparently ran a bestiality farm after retiring from a cocaine operation.. I dont know if I can respect that in all honesty

Edit: alright, i understand it was a lie spread by news now. No need for the anger lol
 
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I only heard just recently and the news hit me like someone had punched me in the gut.when I heard I cried as I knew we had lost a a great pillar in the community. I had only just started listen to the podcast last year when I heard fausty toggle and the entire cast of ZTT I no longer felt shame and sorrow for my self I became a better person I now love and respect myself thank you fausty for everything you have done may you rest in peace. My deepest sympathys and heart go out to cast of ZTT and his love im so sorry for your loss
 
Sadly, I didn't knew about Fausty as much as others.

Prior to Zooier Than Thou I only knew about Fausty as a random zoo from news site that talked about his "bad" deeds, back then I though that these news site claims about him where bullshit. Mainly for the fact that these site reported that gerbils without tails where used for gerbilling (which is a know myth sexual practice ) and that he owned a prostitution sex farm. Classical bullshit accusations against a zoo.

I mainly got to know more about him trhough twitter, I was introduced to him and to twitter zoo-activism through his twitter account CantBePorn by some one who talked about it on a discord server. Hearing about his activism on twitter made me join twitter.

After joining twitter and doing zoo-activism quite successfully, I was PM by him (or maybe I PM him, can't remember well) and we talked for a bit. He seemed to always be angry, considering how much suffering he has seen and how much he has suffered, I can understand why he seemed like that, but despite his external angry look, he had his hearth in the right place. It is a shame that my twitter account has been unfairly locked/suspended for several months and I could not interact more with him... Wish I had knew him years earlier as by his own words, I'm a person that he admires and respect a lot (most likely for the more than a decade I have spend doing zoo activism online) and he also worried about me being in jail (or death) when I stop logging on my suspended/locked twitter account. I'm sure we could have been good friends if we had interacted more. :(

Anyways, he seemed like a good human being, he worried about animal and fellow zoos alike, he will be missed (by me and many) and remembered among those who have done serious contributions to the zoosexual community for his zoo-activism. (cleaning my teary eyes)

May you rest in peace and if there is a soul heaven or similar, may you find your beloved lost animals and friend souls in there.
 
Wow, this is so sad. I recently learned about Doug Spink through ZooTT. Although I never met him in person (and wish I had), I respect that he had the courage and determination to shed some light on the subject.

I've seen some comments mentioning that he wasn't the best representative of zoos, but I also don't see many public representatives for zoos in general (all I recall recently are Malcolm Brenner and George Willard aka Mark Matthews). The people willing to boldly step into the light and risk it all when it comes to trying to legitimize zoophilia are few and far between. It's easier to judge than to be judged.

May he rest in peace, knowing he'll be immortalized with the continuation of his efforts to help build a community and legitimize zoophilia for a long time to come. I also hope that ZooTT stays around. It's really refreshing knowing there's an entertaining and informative podcast on the subject!
 
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