Righteous Fur Blog

When I first met Veni and Hansel Harlan late last August, my fellow BTNEP minigrant recipients were still perfecting their secret recipe for all-natural dog biscuits made from dehydrated nutria meat. (See “Marsh Dogs and gators and teeth, oh my!“) Six months later, the treats are ready to hit the market. Read all about it at the Marsh Dog website, which just went live and looks terrific!

Barataria Bites, the first Marsh Dog biscuits, make their debut at the Louisiana Earth Day Festival in Baton Rouge on April 22, and will soon be available at a store near you. To get free samples, and enroll your dog as an official taste tester, visit Marsh Dog’s Club de Goût (goût is French for “tasty”).

The same week that Marsh Dog launched, Pitre’s Fur & Alligator also went live. Designed by Josh Pitts of Sideways Designs, who created the Righteous Fur website, the site is owned and operated by Tab and Yvette Pitre, our nutria pelt suppliers in Galliano, Louisiana. You can now order nutria pelts directly from Pitre’s Fur online, along with nutria and gator jewelry and gator heads straight from the swamp. Be the first on your block to own a Alligator Head Lamp!

Righteous Fur designer Becky Owens, who hosted Nutria-palooza! on the Bayou at her Lafayette home, did a smashing job representing Righteous Fur at the annual Divas parade. “Divine Protectors of Endangered Pleasures,” Divas parade through the French Quarter the Friday before Fat Tuesday wearing fabulous handcrafted bustiers adorned with Mardi Gras beads. Becky’s “Fur de Lis” krewe embellished their bustiers with nutria fur, which was used to create the titular fleur de lis insets, as well as for accents and trim. The look was completed with nutria-fur hats, nutria-teeth earrings — and, in Becky’s case, a nutria tail! To help spread the word, the krewe handed out nutria swatches with the Righteous Fur FAQ. Geaux Divas! Scroll down for photos or click here to view the Facebook album.

In most of the country, February 2 is Groundhog Day. In Louisiana, it’s Nutria Day. At the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, the annual event is staged as a theatrical spectacle worthy of Mardi Gras. This year, T-Boy assumed the role of weather forecaster, declaring winter over after emerging in grand style from a wedding cake – next to a cutout of Kim Kardashian. Read all about it here.

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