WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

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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Saturday, March 03, 2012

MATT OSBORNE: Taxonomy Fail

Lemons or melons?

BIG CAT NEWS: the Beast of Tamworth

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived in some way by us, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.

It takes a long time to do, and is a fairly tedious task, so I am not promising that they will be done each day, but I will do them as regularly as I can. JD

First up is a new, but rather sketchy sighting of a 'panther' in the Midlands:

New sighting of the big cat

This is Tamworth...
her boyfriend were returning home after visiting friends and as they came through Dordon at about 5pm my granddaughter was astonished to see in a field what she described as a black panther by its stride and length. She said it wasn't a dog or cat...

And that is just about it for today...

CFZ ON FACEBOOK: Welcome to the Future

I have to admit that I don't really like Facebook much. I know that in this day and age that is pretty much an admission of apostasy, but I don't.

We have had a couple of Facebook Groups for years, but I have never really understood how they worked, and I am afraid that I paid very little attention to them.

However, this afternoon Matthew and Emma came over and dragged me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

They have taken over the moribund CFZ Big Cat Study Group Facebook Page and already it looks really rather swish, and there is a jolly discussion going on about Mystery Cats in Weardale.

They also showed me how to set up a Facebook Page for the Weird Weekend and I would be very grateful if you guys could go en masse and click the 'like' button, to make us look massively popular.

Until this afternoon the CFZ Publishing Group page which is meant to cover all of our various publishing endeavours, had been up for months and only had two members. It now has over 200, and a series of lively conversations are going on.

So maybe I have been a hidebound old git all these months. Don't all speak at once...

PS: The Main CFZ Facebook Page is here.

HAUNTED SKIES: People (The) 22.5.65.


OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/


On this day in 1923 English astronomer and Games Master Patrick Moore was born.

And now the news:


Alarm in Paraguay at settlement plans for Nacunday...
Lioness Gives Birth To Tigon Cubs In China (VIDEO)...
Two New Extinct Camel Species Discovered at Panama...
Grave-robbing Badgers Dig Up British Cemetery
Environment: migratory birds, ecological disaster ...
Wild animals banned from circuses
Park ranger amongst 4 Kruger staff arrested for rh...
UK government announces 12 large scale 'wildlife z...
'Oldest sheep' in the world dies on Lewis in Weste...
What would you do if a bear charged you?
One of world’s rarest birds photographed in Peru
Freeze-Dried Pets Comfort Grieving Owners
Fancy Footwork and Non-Stick Leg Coating Helps Spi...
WARSHIPS BECAME A BIRD REFUGE IN AFRICA

It’d be way too predictable to pop out a clip of ‘The Sky at Night’ wouldn’t it:

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

DALE DRINNON: Bunyips, DNA and 'Cedar and Willow'


New on Frontiers of Zoology, Winding up the series on Bunyips:
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/tusked-bunyips-and-southern-walruses.html

New on Frontiers of Anthropology:
http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2012/03/roots-of-american-r1-y-dna.html

New on Cedar and Willow:
http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/03/cedar-as-christine-mcintyre-website.html

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/03/bettie-page-queen-of-nile.html

CRIPTOZOOLOGIA EN ESPAÑA: CFZ are up for an a

Courtesy of our new friend Walter Cantero, we will now be featuring a digest (in English) of each posting on the prolific and popular Spanish language cryptozoology blog Criptozoologia En España. A big thank you to Walter and to Criptozoologia En España main man Javier Resines....

II Kraken Awards (CFZ is a candidate for the International Award)

All information in :

http://criptozoologos.blogspot.com/2012/03/ii-premios-kraken.html

BIG CAT NEWS: Near accident in the Midlands, Scottish prints and more

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived in some way by us, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.

It takes a long time to do, and is a fairly tedious task, so I am not promising that they will be done each day, but I will do them as regularly as I can. JD


Big cat on the prowl in Corpach?

Lochaber News

"I suppose a big dog could have been responsible but they look more like a very big cat's prints to me. "I found the prints just below my living room window, directly beneath a bird feeder. "The front two impressions were more deeply embedded in the ...




Unfortunately there are no close up pictures of the prints, so we can't really comment. Next up is a link to a story about Derbyshire 'panthers'. For various reasons not unconnected to Ronan's book about the Holy Grail, I am up aan ungodly hour, and the link is currently not working. I will leave it in just in case they repair it on the morrow.

Readers recall cat encounters

Derbyshire Times
THEY may still be considered as nothing more than a myth by many - but according to some Derbyshire Times readers, big cat sightings are a common occurrence in our county. In response to an article published last month on Derbyshire big cats, ...

And finally from the UK today, a story about a near RTA involving a 'panther' in the West Midlands...

Coventry panther close to being killed on Ryton road

Coventry Telegraph
A woman has told the Telegraph how a motorist had to swerve to avoid the big cat in Oxford Road, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, late at night. She said a large black creature came from a dense group of trees in the middle of a roundabout by the former site of the ...

OK, this column is about British mystery cats, but it is goodto note that CFZ Press author Scott Marlowe is currently hunting a mystery cat in Florida.


The Search For The Mystery Carrabelle Cat

WJHG-TVPanama City- A team of popular cryptozoologists are searching the Florida panhandle this weekend for a mystery cat. After several sightings in Carrabelle, city commissioners invited the team to search for the cat. The team, comprised of Scott Marlowe, ...

And finally, back in the UK, it may not be a mystery cat, but it is a disturbing story about a spate of cat deaths in Cheshire...

Mystery cat deaths
From This Is Cheshire

By MATTHEW HOBBS
PET owners in Orford are devastated after four cats on one street died in less than a week.