What are the Mysterious “Therians” Taking Over Argentina?

BUENOS AIRES – A disturbing new trend is sweeping the capital city of Argentina, and almost everyone has no idea what it is.

On Monday, a popular Argentine news station, LN+, featured an awkward interview with a young woman who appeared on the set with a fur, cat-like mask to explain to the panel of TV professionals why she identifies as a “black cat.”

The panel sat in silence at the absurd statements coming from an otherwise talented and intelligent young woman. Their credulity tested, the panel investigated, asking the young woman, “What do you identify as?”

The young woman answered, “I study psychology. I identify as a black cat.”

The anchor, stunned, “A black cat?” The woman confirms, “Yes.”

To which the anchor responds confusedly, “But you are studying psychology.”

The young woman then began to explain how identifying as a black cat allows her to express herself in ways that she feels she has never been able to in the past.

Unfamiliar acts to humans, such as “howling” in public and walking on all fours like animals, have tested the boundaries for the young woman and make her feel different.

The young woman also said that it makes her feel happy that “people have to work all day,” and she can simply go out and express herself in these ways, and feel as if she is “liberated” from the constraints of traditional obligations that accompany people of ordinary standing.

She goes on to speak about the “Therian” movement, a rapidly growing segment of the population, especially among the younger groups, who are identifying as “non-human” life-forms. She explains:

“We’re not animals. We’re people. We simply identify as animals.”

The young woman added, “I’ve lived with animals my whole life (raised in an animal shelter/refugio), so that's why in my soul and heart I feel like a cat.”

Images and videos are going viral on social media as teens and young adults adorn themselves with animal-like costumes and meet together in public to act out on these behaviors.

The trend is spreading so rapidly that residents are beginning to call on the local government to crack down on these social explorations, claiming that the movement is beginning to take on some form of a “mind-virus” among the youth in Buenos Aires.

Some residents are even drawing links to the movement with the “woke-progressive” political ideology among left-wing inhabitants, compounding the debate to now take on an overtly political tone.

Citizens who reside in the city feel somewhat disturbed by the social phenomenon, associating the movement with the spreading “trans-identity crisis,” whereby individuals have been known to self-identify as genders other than that with which they were designated at birth.

According to “Therians,” those who have adopted an animal-like identity develop an emotional connection not only with their new life-form, but also with other people who also self-identify as animals, thus metastasizing a cult-like experience that naturally excludes people of “normal” human qualities.

Therians also emphasize that they do not believe that they are biological animals, but rather, it is the social connection with other “animals” that they find so binding, and that that connection only deepens as the social net of other Therians expands throughout the city.

According to mental health specialists in the city, although they do not acknowledge that identifying as a “Therian” constitutes a legitimate mental health diagnosis, specialists are concerned, however, that one’s experience with therianthropy can inhibit them from projecting acceptable public behavior and somehow prevent them from carrying out their daily functions.

Cases of the social phenomenon are also emerging in Mexico City this week, catching the eye of residents who dread the spreading trend across Latin America.

At the Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City, for example, a man was surrounded by reporters at the university’s park as he was being fed dog food from the hand of one of the local journalists.

The disturbing video traveled the airwaves like wildfire as local residents fear that the movement is “co-opting” their children for “brainwashing.”

In Ecuador and Argentina, parents are even signing petitions to obtain the attention of the government to implement measures to restrict the behavior, as adults voice concern that the trend could risk deteriorating social cohesion and acceptable standards of human behavior.