Naia Okami, a biological male who identifies as a woman, also claims to be a wolf.
Joining “This Morning” on Monday, Okami identified as “otherkin therian.”
“A therian is somebody who believes that they are a non-human animal on a personal, integral level,” Okami told the hosts. “Now this isn’t to say that we’re delusional. I don’t physically believe that I’m a wolf. It’s more of a spiritual and psychological identification as a wolf.”
My shirt tho. pic.twitter.com/yrpRj3Y9uR
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“I think a lot of people have a misconception that I think I am literally a wolf and obviously I don’t. I have a serious job, I pay my bills and pay my taxes. This is just how I spiritually express myself,” Okami said, adding, “If I’m at work or in the grocery store, I’m not going to bark and howl at my cashier.”
During the interview, Okami howled at the morning show hosts after being asked to, though it was quiet because of sleeping roommates.
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In a video posted in 2019, Okami was featured further talking about wolf identity; Okami donned furry ears and a tail, ran through the woods on all fours, and howled and growled for the cameras.
“So, physically, I am a British Columbia wolf; black fur, amber eyes,” Okami said. “The reason I know this is when I dream, a lot of times I am in my wolf form, and I have also had third party dreams where I’ve seen myself.”
Okami suggested his brain is similar to a wolf’s, too: “My thought process, I think, is wolflike. Obviously, I don’t have a machine that can read the mind of a wolf, but based on observed behaviors of a wolf and their response to stimuli, etc., I feel like it very much applies to me.”
“Spirituality is a part of it, too,” Okami added. “I feel very spiritually connected as a wolf.”
“Identify as a wolf,” Okami said, means, “I see a wolf, and it’s an automatic association, it’s like, that is me. I don’t know how, but that energy, that entire form embodied is me.”
Later in the video, Okami claims to fully identify as a wolf, even when wolves devour weakened animals.
“No one wants to be a wolf when it’s time to do wolf s***, right?” Okami said. “No one wants to think of a wolf, like, eating apart a helpless, weak, maimed elk that is the runt of the bunch, but wolves to that, too.”
“You can’t have this idealist wonderful view of something that isn’t in-line with reality and identify as that. When I identify as a wolf, I am a wolf,” Okami said. “I’m not saying I’m sadistic and want to tear small animals apart, I’m just saying I identify with wolves because I’m a wolf.”
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