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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Thursday, July 17, 2014

CRYPTOLINK: Video which appeared to show shark in Lake Ontario an elaborate hoax

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

 TORONTO - An island community on Lake Ontario expressed a mix of relief and frustration Wednesday after a video which had many wondering if a shark was lurking nearby turned out to be an elaborate marketing ploy. The clip made waves across the province and beyond, with many offering opinions on what they were seeing, although experts agreed the creature on camera wasn't a fresh-water-friendly bull shark but likely a large catfish.

The matter even came up at Ontario's legislature, where the governing Liberals cheekily noted there was no need to strike a Jaws-like task force, but asked residents to stay safe and report any sightings to the Natural Resources Ministry. It was only on Wednesday afternoon that Discovery Canada, which is owned by broadcasting giant Bell Media, said a finned creature which momentarily surfaced while three men fished off a dock was in fact a life-like prosthetic model of a shark.

The channel said the video — which was posted on YouTube July 10 — was the first stage of a marketing campaign to promote an upcoming programing series on sharks. But for local residents on Wolfe Island, where the video was supposed to have been filmed, the entire matter was one that set some on edge.

Read on...
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FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

Well, everything actually!

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.


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TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

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 are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • UK SIGHTINGS: Man spots big cat between Newhaven ...
  • NEWSLINK: BIG CAT CONTROVERSY Anger after cougar ...
  • NEWSLINK: Private Reserves Support National Parks...
  • NEWSLINK: Circus madness – the suffering of Britai...
  • US SIGHTINGS: Mountain Lion Traps Set Up in Bay A...



  • NEWSLINK: ALDF and Big Cat Rescue propose bill to...

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    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Exposing Bigfoot sure to raise hairs
    Is Bigfoot real? This is the question that has plagued almost nobody's minds for a number of years. But there are certainly those who believe 

    Chimps Attend 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Screening
    So what's wrong with this picture? We have some educated chimps wathcing a movie about apes taking over the planet. Who's bright idea was this?

    Evidence of Bigfoot Seminars in MN
    Brent Harring will be giving a series of bigfoot seminars in the Twin Cities this summer entitled Evidence of Bigfoot & "Bigfooting" as Outdoor Pursuit.
    Yale Graduate Claims Rick Dyer Really Did Kill A Bigfoot
    Some people just won't let it die. And one those people is Yale graduate, Christopher Noel. This Bigfoot hoax has been dead in the water for quite 




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    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HAS A VERY IRREGULAR HEAD

    The Gonzo Daily - Thursday
    www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html

    Readers living in the east of the UK have an almost unprecedented chance to make a little bit of zoological history. In 1953 a single specimen of an eastern European butterfly called the Scarce or Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell was caught in Kent. Another specimen was found dead in the Shetlands in November last year. But now, following a huge invasion of western Europe, they have turned up in some numbers in eastern England. There is now speculation that they might breed here. Please do me a favour: check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphalis_xanthomelas and keep your cameras and cameraphones at the alert. Particularly look for mating pairs or females laying eggs. Send me pictures and reports and help us make a little bit of zoological history. I said to Corinna that as my stepdaughter Olivia lives in Norfolk she should give the forthcoming baby the middle name of Xanthomelas in honour of this extraordinary invasion, and she just looked at me with barely disguised disdain.
     
     
    The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#86) is available to read or download at www.gonzoweekly.com. It has Hunter Thompson on the front cover an an article by theatrical producer Lou Stein about his friendship with the good doctor. There is also an interview with Paul Woodwright from Kozfest, Galahad at the Christchurch Festival in pictures, Doug Harr with thefirst of a mini series on Brand X, whilst Jon muses about Alan Moore (who knows the score). There are also new shows from the wonderfully eccentric Jaki and Tim on their Submarine, from Canterbury Sans Frontières  and from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and salamanders from Toulouse (OK, no French caudata, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
     
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
     
     
    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
     
    To make sure that you don't miss your copy of future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe
    http://eepurl.com/r-VTD
     

    *  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 same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
     
    * We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

    *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 54 who - together with an orange kitten named after a song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange kitten?
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    NEWS FROM NOWHERE

    ON THIS DAY IN 1945 - U.S. President Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II. During the meeting Stalin made the comment that "Hitler had escaped." 
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    • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK...
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