Don't know Deus personally, aside from the permission-letter to use his pictures. Same goes for T.F. Rabbit, though he's very friendly. ^_^

As for European furry conventions: watch out for TreeCon 2003! The new big Dutch convention to be hosted in January!
On the matter of fursuiting, it's more popular in the USA than in Europe. Last time I went to Eurofurence there were but a few fursuiters. Though their costumes looked great!