Not surprised in the least. I'm convinced most, if not all, cons do that shit at this point. And BLFC was the con where they had a giant Bad Dragon booth full of sex toys right in the middle of their convention space for literally everyone to see, minors and adults alike.
I remember going to FC in San Jose back in 2013 or so and I saw this dude - a pretty popular older furry, you know the typical gay dude with time, money and resources on his hands, could dig up his name if necessary, don't recall it off the top of my head - well, the last day rolls around and there he was loading up transports with some fairly exotic animals in cages. Bigger animals like exotic cats among some other smaller species.
Said they were part of some "exhibit" or some shit but in light of 2018's Zoo-gate it paints everything in a different hue of bullshit. Considering I neither saw nor heard of any promotions relating to any kind exotic animal exhibit, my bullshit detector has been going off ever since 2018 when I recollect on that time.
Basically, these niggas be wildin' at these fucking things and I am convinced every single event has at least some element of dogfuckery going on. Either amongst a very select group of individuals who use the con as a front to mask their degeneracy or across a more broad spectrum ofconvention goers. God only knows if pedo shit goes down as well though it would not shock me in the least to know it has/does. Maybe convention organizers know of it, maybe not, but I can say with confidence that it does happen. A lot.
Nothing that exceptional sex cult does will ever surprise me. Cause revulsion, certainly, but not surprise me.