CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: 11/12/12

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...

Monday, November 12, 2012

DALE DRINNON: Sasquatch/Cedar & Willow/Benny's Blog

New on Frontiers of Zoology:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/11/sasquatch-encounter.html

And new on Benny's Blog,The Ominous Octopus Omnibus

http://bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/happy-veterans-day.html

Here is the latest one at Cedar and Willow and it was long enough and hard enough to get done:

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/11/chickie-and-man-from-uncle-vs-blofeld.html

TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP

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 by us in some way, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012, Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.

NEWSLINK: Revelations about British big cats (Via

REPOSTED FROM HERP-DIGEST: Petco rebuts PETA claims re turtle rehabilitation

(From the Editor-HerpDigest's policy has always been, that if an error was posted, we are always open to post a rebuttable or letter to the editor. The policy is one rebuttable per original error, and after that case closed, correction, opposing opinion stated, time to move on. Don't kill the messenger. Other issues and news must be covered. -this is also The New York Times policy. So here is the most reasoned and detailed rebuttable I have received concerning the "PETCO Sending Turtles to Turtle Meat Farm Alert." For more information contact PETCO and/or PETA. Our apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused.)

Dear HerpDigest,

Truth is the first casualty...

I was astonished to read the wildly inaccurate article condemning the Turtle Relinquishment Program established between Petco and the Concordia Turtle Farm. The source of this misinformation appears to be the PETA website (http://www.peta.org/action/action-alerts/PETCO-Program-Sends-Pet-Turtles-to-Meat-Farm.aspx).

The purpose of the Relinquishment Program is to give people that have purchased hatchlings from the black market an avenue to dispose of their turtles without releasing them into the wild. They can do this by just bringing them to the nearest Petco store.

The Concordia Turtle Farm receives the turtles from Petco and then places those turtles in their ponds and either grows them up to the required four inch size before selling them as pets or allows them to grow to maturity to be used as breeding stock.

All of the numbers in the PETA article are wrong. As an example, there’s nothing like 200,000 adult turtles at Concordia Turtle Farm. Since Concordia feeds their adult turtles a diet of fresh whole fish and specially designed pellets the food bill for 200,000 adult turtles would probably bankrupt them in a season!

Concordia does not export anything like two million hatchlings a year either. The turtle farms in the United States have undergone a significant contraction as the Chinese have begun to dominate the industry (see the LEMIS database). Today there are far fewer farms than there were in the boom years of the early 1990s and total exports are vastly reduced.

Concordia does not export anything but hatchling turtles. These hatchlings have been produced from treated eggs and are certified salmonella free by the state of Louisiana. Concordia does not export turtle meat or adult turtles to be slaughtered. They are not a “meat farm.”

I cannot find anywhere that Petco states they are in "a partnership with the CDC." Sounds like yet more misinformation from PETA. The CDC does not partner with private groups but they are obviously supportive of the Relinquishment Program because they have said that “Some pet retailers and pet stores may accept unwanted turtles.” in their Bulletin (http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/small-turtles-03-12/advice-consumers.html). The CDC is clearly aware that the Relinquishment Program is an excellent avenue to get unwanted black market turtles away from young children.

It’s ludicrous to declare that the Relinquishment Program is “obviously a profitable venture.” Farms like Concordia are highly efficient and can produce a salmonella free hatchling for less than the cost of the box needed to ship the unwanted turtles from Petco. Anyone that knows anything about labor and shipping costs could see that there’s lots of money to be lost doing this but the Relinquishment Program is still the right thing to do.

PETA states that “Petco should not be selling them (turtles) to begin with.” I wonder what special knowledge they have to make this judgement call. Who are they to say what should be a desired pet? I know that I got a great deal of joy out of the pet turtles that I had as a boy and would want children today to have the same opportunity if those turtles came from a legitimate turtle farm and not from the wild.

In their pursuit of sensationalism PETA has been negligent in supervising the quality of the information on their web site. I would suggest they turn their attentions inward and clean up their own act before they attack an American business that is productive and efficient because it is a well run farm that cares for its livestock.

Yours,

Mark Feldman

CRYPTOLINK: Bigfoot investigators believe creature has taken a toehold in area (Indiana)

Showing plaster casts supposedly made from Bigfoot footprints Thursday night at the Putnam County Public Library are professional wildlife biologist Tim Cassidy (right) and Steve Abney, director of the Indiana Chapter of the North American Fortean Society.
(Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE) [Order this photo]

Fittingly, a topic nestled somewhere between fiction and non-fiction was the subject of a Putnam County Public Library program Thursday night. More than 40 persons, including several parents with small children, came to the library to hear stories and learn about the legendary Sasquatch, or the infamous Bigfoot.

Read on...

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES (CFZ)

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that - whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot, or lake monsters - it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean Zoologist to be interested in. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

And so another working week begins. Corinna and I spent much of the weekend doing the index for Karl Shuker's new book on mystery cats, and we sweated blood over it, but it will prove to have been worth it in the end. I am still reading the anthology of Hunter Thompson's writings for Rolling Stone, and enjoying it immensely.

We know how to treat rock stars here at Gonzo Daily. Whenever possible we put them to work, and this is just what we have done with Paul May. On hearing that he was just about to go and see Evanescence we inveigled a gig review out of him.

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/paul-may-evanescence-live-at-nia.html

Our daily visit to Thom the World Poet deep in the art of Texas

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/thom-world-poet-daily-poet_9777.html

Peter McAdam is - to my mind - one of the funniest people around. His creation The Nine Henrys which is now a book (designed by yours truly) on Gonzo Multimedia is something which really should be on your Christmas present list. A couple of days ago I caught up with him for a chat...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/exclusive-peter-mcadam-interview.html

I pinched this picture OF Helen and the horns onstage from Helen's blog. And - dare I say Ms Cookerybook - that is a very vulgar if apt simile you used...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/helen-and-horns-at-borderline-other.html

In the words of Michael Des Barres: "This is my new You Tube channel..Please subscribe.I will be posting info,clips from my mad life,acoustic songs,videos.We can connect with one another...ask me whatever you want....much love...share it!!!"

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/michael-des-barres-has-new-youtube.html

And finally for today, a link to an interesting snippet about the lovely and talented Judy Dyble

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-interesting-judy-dyble-link.html

The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The Editor is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?