Q&A with Shiro Ulv

hiro Ulv is a 21-years-old IT security consultant living in Brunswick, Georgia. Born Matthew Schimmel, Shiro identifies himself with the growing subculture known as the Otherkin movement. In April 2013, Shiro was featured in Logo TV’s special documentary I Think I Am an Animal. Since the airing of the documentary, Shiro has gained online notoriety for being "The Wolf Guy" after a screenshot of him identifying himself as a “wolf therianthrope” from the program began circulating on Tumblr and elsewhere online. What is more, Shiro has been an active member of the Know Your Meme community for over a year. In the light of this discovery, our longtime research moderator MisterJ reached out to the wolf-man himself to chat about his Internet fame.

Interview

Q: How did you come to appear in the Logo TV documentary?

A: I was contacted because I am the administrator of a large therianthropy and therein website. I originally declined, because the media has a way of portraying our community badly. I was eventually asked to provide background information on the community, and to help fact check. I was then manipulated into appearing on TV.

Q: How do you reflect on your internet fame? And how has others in your life reacted to your internet fame?

A: I have mixed emotions about it. I pretty much joke around about it for the most part. Others in my life think it’s amusing, funny, or cool. I’ve been asked to pose with people on the street. I’ve also gotten a lot of negative backlash. It’s funny, because a lot of the scenes were coached and I was told or encouraged to do certain things. In the famous meme, I was told, by the person filming, “look at the water and give me a bark”.

Q: Do you regret appearing in the documentary?

A: In a sense, very much so. I embarrassed myself and the community I am a part of. In another sense, I met some true friends from the experience as well.

Q: How often were you requested to repeat the famous memetic line thus far?

A: I’d say more times than I can count. It’s become a local trend in my area for people to take Vines with me. I don’t normally bark in real life. Sometimes if I’m with friends and we’re goofing off, sure. Or if I’m asked to for a Vine with someone.

Q: Since your appearance in the documentary, alongside with your identify as a wolf, went viral on the internet, has the attention it gathered resulted in positive consequences on your private or social life, and within the therein community?

A: Well, my girlfriend sort of found me through the documentary. She knew me from High School, and had a crush on me for several years. I had legally changed my name as explained in the documentary, so she was unable to look me up on Facebook or anything. When she saw it, she found my name, we talked, became friends, and now we’ve been together for six months. I’m told by some therians that I have inspired them, but I honestly get sad when I am told this. My behavior on the documentary isn’t an inspiration, it is an example of what NOT to do.

Q: Are you aware of the furry fandom, and would you identify yourself as a member?

A: Aware of the fandom, participate to a slight degree, but am not really a member.

Q: How would you say the otherkin/therian community is treated online and in society at large?

A: Badly. We’re a laughing stock. The most vocal members of our community are idiots, or in my case, portrayed as such. It’s fashionable to make fun of our community, just like it is to make fun of furries. The Tumblr therein community is the worst place to go for info; it’s full of idiots. The community existed long before Tumblr, and like everything else on the internet, Tumblr tends to ruin it. The Tumblr community has decided that it’s okay to identify as objects, and various other nonsense. They’ve also decided they’re a part of the transgender community, and that they need nounself pronouns. I don’t support any of this, by the way.

Q: What would you like people to understand regarding the otherkin/therian community?

A: We’re a bit odd, but we’re also pretty normal. We have jobs, and contribute to society like everyone else. It’s a spiritual and/or psychological belief and nothing more.

Q: Is there any significance behind the name Shiro Ulv?

A: It means White Wolf.

Q: Are there any variations of your meme that you find interesting?

A: The Sonic one. I’m a Sonic fan and I’m actually wearing a Tails shirt right now.

Q: Are there any plans in the future regarding your internet fame?

A: Not much. It’s kind of embarrassing. :P

Q: How did you first find out about the therein community? And how did you find out that your phrase was made famous online?

A: I first found out through my online friend. I was a volunteer staff member of the game Furcadia. I thought I was a furry, but was told therian fits me better.

Q: How did you find out that your phrase was made famous online?

A: A friend of mine showed it to me on Facebook. I figured it’d be pretty well known because I was on TV.

Q: What are some of your go-to sites? Are you active in any specific online communities?

A: I administrate Kinmunity.com

Q: Do you have any favorite internet memes?

A: Sonic Dreams Collection.

Q: Any favorite Internet-famous people?

A: Chad Vader.

Q: You have said you are a fan of the Sonic franchise; have you created an original character related to it?

A: Ew. No.

Q: What would you tell someone who is in a similar situation as you right now? Regarding both otherkin/therian and internet fame.

A: I’d tell them that they shouldn’t let the haters get to them. A lot of people on the internet are mindless drones and hate machines, and there’s no point in paying any attention to them. The positive is better to focus on. Don’t judge somebody you don’t know by a one hour block on television. There’s a lot of things I’d change about the documentary, and I had no editorial control over it. It was filmed over a period of about a week, and cut down to one hour. I was joking around with some of the film people and such, and got friendly, and was willing to do stupid things before I caught myself doing something that probably wouldn’t look good on TV. Over the course of several days, that’s enough material to piece together fake stuff.

Q: To close up the interview: do you still stand by what you say when you said “on all levels except physical I am a wolf”?

A: It’s a lot more complicated than that. I still identify as a wolf in a spiritual and psychological matter, so yes.

Q: You do not bark in real life like you did in the video, correct?

A: No, not normally.

Q: Do you have anything else you would like to add?

A: Yes. My trademark “Woof”.

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Shiro Ulv is an American I.T. security consultant and the founder of Kinmunity, an online community and resource website for Otherkins, therianthropes and other individuals who identify themselves as non-human, based in Brunswick, Georgia. In addition to his active presence within the Otherkin subculture, Ulv has spoken at various panels as an advocate of autism rights movement. For more information, visit his official website at shiroulv.me. This interview was conducted over email by Know Your Meme research moderator Mister J in November 2015.