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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

NIGEL WRIGHT: Big cat reports from the Lake District


TWO MORE BIG CAT REPORTS FROM THE LAKE DISTRICT

2012 has begun with yet more big cat sightings from the Lake District. The following two reports come from the Westmorland Gazette

Windermere pensioner spots 'big cat' in his garden
6:10pm Tuesday 3rd January 2012
ANOTHER ‘big cat’ sighting in the Lake District has re-opened the debate about what the mysterious animal may be. For years, Westmorland Gazette readers have reported seeing large cats at various places across Cumbria and Lancashire. Startled Windermere pensioner Brian Jowett claims he saw the curious creature in the early hours the week before Christmas. Awoken during the night, Mr Jowett noticed security lights come on at his home at Rowanrigg, on Lake Road. He looked out and saw an animal measuring around two feet long with a bushy tail, which he first believed was a fox. But on closer inspection, the 82-year-old realised he was looking at something he had never seen before. “It was a very large cat, very much like a striped tabby cat with very pronounced rings around its bushy tail, and pointed ears,” said Mr Jowett. “I watched it for about four or five minutes, it looked at me, panicked and went off.” Mr Jowett said he was surprised by his encounter with the fawn-coloured creature as wildcats in the UK are usually found north of the border.

“From information on the Internet, it would appear to be a wildcat but they are not supposed to be anywhere other then remote parts of Scotland,” he added. “I was very surprised. It was strange - we have chickens, which I checked the following day but they hadn’t been disturbed.”
David Harpley, senior conservation officer at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said the animal might have been a large domestic cat. He also suggested it could be an otter, which people do not often see on dry land. “There are a number of theories about what these things are - one is that they are big cats living free, but it seems a bit unlikely,” said Mr Harpley. “The other is that people are probably not used to seeing male otters, particularly male otters, on dry land. “Otters move across dry land in order to get from one water course to another. It’s a big animal and people might confuse these, potentially, with big cats.”

Mr Harpley added that a large puma-type cat would measure about four or five feet long.
“I would guess this was a large domestic cat.

As January progressed, another big cat sighting from the area was reported…













Angela Jones and Eve Grayson, who say they saw South Lakeland's mystery big cat







Two terrified runners have spoken of their face-to-face encounter with South Lakeland’s mysterious big ‘black cat’. The latest sighting was reported by Angela Jones and Eve Grayson, whose evening jog on Scout Scar was dramatically interrupted at around 6.30pm last Wednesday. They have vowed never to venture up to the popular beauty spot in darkness again after coming across what they said was ‘definitely’ a big cat.












It follows years of apparent sightings of the curious creature in Kendal, Levens, Natland, Witherslack and in the Winster Valley.

The jogging duo, who both live in Kendal, spotted the animal just four metres in front of them on the side of a path. Angela said the animal was jet black, the same size as a Labrador, had long legs, a tail and was staring straight at them. “We stopped, shone our head torches towards it to get a better look and saw two orange eyes and the outline of a large feline animal,” said Angela “It was definitely a big cat.”






As they moved towards the beast, Eve, a student, reported that its tail moved and ‘bristled’, similar to a cat’s when it is angry. But fear quickly set in and they decided to run in the opposite direction. Angela, who works for Cumbria County Council, said it was an ‘amazing experience’ but also ‘a bit frightening’.






“We were terrified because it was dark and we didn’t know what it was going to do, or whether it was going to follow us. It is not something you expect to see in this country – and not so close.”
Later that night, they turned to the internet to try to establish what they had seen.
Angela – who said she had never taken previous big cat sightings seriously – was surprised by the number of reports locally.






Word of their brush with the mystery moggy has been met with scepticism by some, but Angela and Eve are adamant about what they saw.






“People still don’t believe it but we know what we saw,” said Angela. “They say: ‘Are you sure it wasn’t a cow or a sheep’ – we were close enough to see that it wasn’t.






“It’s almost like we want to see it again to get a picture to prove it to people.”

And so it continues!…When will the government finally come clean over big cats?. How many more reliable, daylight sightings must there be, before the true emerges, and we all know , once and for all, that these beautiful creatures really do roam our English countryside!…

CHRIS CLARK IS IN TAHITI..

Jon

So why shouldn't Tahiti have a monster just like everywhere else?

Chris

HARD DRIVES FOR TIBET

I thought you might be interested in an URGENT appeal I’m running for the Meridian Trust, which could benefit 56,000 Tibetans living in exile.

We need just x40 hard drives. Can you help by providing one?

That old spare hard drive, abandoned in the corner of your desk space would give several thousand Tibetans, lay and monastic, direct access to their heritage and in doing so would enable us to fulfil H.H. Dalai Lama’s request for his people.

In the 1980′s, at the urgent request of H.H. the Dalai Lama the Meridian Trust began to film many of the old teachers who escaped from Tibet before they passed away. This original filming initiative came to be known as the Lama Project; a total of 600 hours of unique footage was recorded.

To learn more about the Project go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MciTeg3r548
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xcNtoNeR228

Meridian Trust has digitized and encoded these 600 hours of unique Buddhist teachings so that they fit onto a 120GB (or larger) portable hard drive. In March this year around 40 representatives from the major monasteries of India and Nepal are meeting at Sarnath University, India, making this the ideal opportunity to give each monastery a copy of the Lama Project on hard drive.

You can help by:

Donating any spare120gb hard drives? (Using our FREEPOST address).
Sponsoring a monastery by buying hard drive using our Amazon Wish List: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/1MWXVQCQQ62OJ
Making a donation to The Meridian Trust via PayPal our account address is: admin@meridian-trust.org
DONATE ONLINE via our website: http://meridian-trust.org/wp/?page_id=101

While the Tibetans have had so much of their culture and traditions destroyed, the culmination of the Lama Project directly gives back something of what has been lost. We are sincerely grateful for any contributions you feel you can make towards helping us achieve our goal.

Anyone giving to this URGENT appeal before the end of February 2012 will receive a FREE CD of ‘Songs for Tibet’.

View the map of the network of Monasteries: http://www.tibetanknowledge.org/provisional/map.html


Monasteries that will benefit:
Ulan Bator: Gandan Monastery Library, Mongolian National Library
Ladakh: Lama Yuru Monastery
Himachal Pradesh: Drolma Ling Nunnery, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Menri Bon Monastic Centre, Thupten Dorjidak Institute, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, Tibetan Medical Institute
Dehra Dun: Bon Zamongyal Yungdrung Ling Monastery, Drikung Kagyu Institute, Mindroling Monastery, Ngor Monastery, Sakya College, Sakya Monastery
Kathmandu: Shechen Monastery, Thukche Choling Nunnery, Trangu Tashi Choling Monastery, Triten Norbutse Bonpo Education Centre
Sikkim: Dodrup Chen Monastery, Rumtek College, Sikkim Institute of Tibetology
Arunachal Pradesh: Gyuto Monastic University
Varanasi: Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies, CIHTS Medical Institute, Thrangu Vajra Vidhya Institute
Orissa: Dechen Choephel Ling Monastery
North Kanara: Drepung Gomang Monastic University, Drepung Loseling Monastic University, Ganden Shartse Monastic University, Ganden Jangtse Monastic University, Jangchub Choling Nunnery
Mysore:. Dekey Larsoe Computer Input Centre, Dzongkar Chode College, Gyumey Monastic University, Ngagyur Nyingma Monastery, Rabling Computer Input Centre, Sera Jey Monastic University, Sera Mey Monastic University


THANK YOU for any help you can offer!

Very best wishes,

Dolma Beresford
Director

HAUNTED SKIES: Daily Telegraph 6.2.59.


http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/02/daily-telegraph-6259.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/
On this day in 1653 the city of New Amsterdam, which later became New York, was incorporated (nothing too Fortean about that it just gives me an excuse to post a link to one of my favourite songs as the signoff vid today).

And now the news:

Land of the rising Sunfish
Get your garden ready for wildlife
Kerala biodiversity body stops export of rare goat...
A Vast Canadian Wilderness Poised for a Uranium Bo...
What Do Killer Whales Eat in the Arctic?
Scientists reveal how females store sperm for deca...
Marine study in Singapore digs up 100 species
Black squirrels could outnumber reds in England
Residents urged not to feed red kites in Chilterns...
Vets take action to save Poland's lynx

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam, why’d they change it I can’t say, people just liked it better that way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynuwcd8SAhE

CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: On The Track (Of Unknown Animals) Episode 54



The latest episode of our monthly webTV show from the CFZ and CFZtv, bringing you news on our activities within cryptozoology and natural history as well as the latest cryptozoological, and monster hunting news from around the world.

This episode brings you:

CFZ in winter
The first snow and snow damage
Walking
The ditches of Huddisford
What happenned to the fallow deer
Animal crossing
Unseasonal flowers
Coloured frogs
Kennerland Cross
Moles
The Walland Farm trailcams
Walland Farm at night
Badgers/deer/rabbits/foxes
Are there still red squirrels in Devon?
Bigfoot in storage
The Loch Lomond Monster
The cat who steals tobacco
Corinna looks at out of place birds
New and Rediscovered: Rediscovered monkey
New and Rediscovered: New lemur
New and Rediscovered: New tiny frogs

HIT PARADE FOR JANUARY (CFZ PRESS/FORTEAN WORDS)

UK

1. Dead of Night by Lee Walker (-)
2. Grave Concerns by Kai Roberts (-)
3. Haunted Skies Volume Three by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (3)
4. Haunted Skies Volume One by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (-)
5. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (2)
6. Weird Waters by Lars Thomas (-)
7=. Dark Ness by Tabitca Cope (-)
7=. The Owlman and Others by Jonathan Downes (-)

7=. Dragons: More than a myth by Richard Freeman (-)
7=. Monster by Neil Arnold (-)




US

1. Monsters of Texas by Ken Gerhard and Nick Redfern (6)
2. The Inhumanoids by Barton Nunnelly (5)
3. The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia by Richard Freeman (2)
4. Orang-pendek: Sumatra's forgotten ape by Richard Freeman (6)
5=. Haunted Skies Volume Three by John Hanson and Dawn Holloway (3)
5=. Tetrapod Zoology by Darren Naish (7)
5=. Big Cats loose in Britain by Marcus Matthews (8)
8=. The Owlman and Others by Jonathan Downes (-)
8=. The Smaller Mystery Carnivores of the Westcountry by Jonathan Downes (-)
8=. Extraordinary Animals Revisited by Karl Shuker (-)

Last month's positions in this pinky colour, which I think is called cerise. This was the best January yet saleswise and certainly nothing even for Jon at his grumpiest to grumble about.
A particular 'well done' to Kai Roberts and Tabitca Cope with their first books, and to Lee Walker who has been hitting the promotional trail up in Merseyside.

KARL SHUKER: WHITE LIONS AND WHITE TIGERS - SEEKING A GENETIC EXPLANATION

Native South African legends have long told of magical, elusive white lions inhabiting the Kruger National Park and the neighbouring Transvaal, but with no confirmed sightings by scientists, these leonine phantoms were not taken seriously by the zoological world – until 1977, that is, when zoologist Chris McBride announced to stunned press reporters across the globe that for the past two years, on a private game reserve called Timbavati adjacent to the Kruger, he had been studying and protecting three blue-eyed, snowy-white lions. Read on...

CFZ PEOPLE: Various blog updates (four to be precise) from Dale Drinnon. This man is becomming unstoppable


New on Frontiers of Zoology:
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/01/neolithic-neanderthals.html

New on Frontiers of Anthropology:
http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2012/01/arkaim-from-polish-website.html

http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2012/01/arkaim-russias-ancient-city-arctic.html

New on Cedar and Willow:
http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/01/cedars-sedan-1930s-style.html