I was upset to hear that they decided to not let anyone below 19 go this year, since I wanted to go the year before but I was late finding out about it, and they still allowed those of my age to go. *shrugs*
Heyas. It wasn't an easy decision to make, mainly because we hate to hear from furs who wanted to attend but are currently too young, but it had to be a trade: the future of Feral or minors. The issue has always been finances with Feral as we try to keep our registration fees as low as possible for people to afford but have high costs of insurance. Last year we talked with our insurer and were told that if we had no one under the age of 19 our insurance rates would drop significantly.
When only two minors attended last year out of 20 who had registered, and we made the realization that the cost per minor in insurance was over $1500, we had to make the hard decision that we couldn't go on losing so much money for a small group of furs to attend.
I've always wanted Feral to the kind of con that if a fur REALLY wants to attend they can find a way. I always encouraged people under the age of 19 to attend cause so many furs who have done so in the past became regular campers, and a few even became staff! But in the end the question was simple: do we want one last Feral where we may not afford the next, or many more so that people who are 17 this year can attend two years down the road and keep attending year after year.
