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, October 02, 2014

CRYPTOLINK: The great fox fable

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. 

Victorian foxes – did they ever reach Tasmania?

THE call has been made for a full police investigation into Tasmania's Fox Eradication Program (FEP) after Tasmanian Agriculture Minister Jeremy Rockliff confirmed the program had been wound up, after nearly 13 years.
"There is no evidence that foxes have been detected since July 2011; however, it is important we remain vigilant," Mr Rockliff told an estimates committee hearing recently.
However, Tasmanian Member for Windemere Ivan Dean said it was now time for a police investigation into the activities of the Fox-Free Task Force and the program, which is estimated to have cost between $30 million and $50m.
"The Minister has virtually disbanded the program and amalgamated it into the Invasive Species Unit," he said.
But Mr Dean said it raised important questions as to whether or not there had ever been foxes living in Tasmania.

Read on...

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.

  • NEWSLINK: Post Delhi incident, officials of Bondl...
  • OTHER SIGHTINGS: La Cala cougar may be back in An...
  • NEWSLINK: Man-eating leopard attacks drunks headi...

  • UK SIGHTINGS: Suffolk woodland or foreign jungle?...
  • BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Is This a Bigfoot Driving These Dogs Crazy?
    My Dog ran to the very end of his lease, so it must have been a Big foot. ... I remember when I was young and wanted to be the one to find Bigfoot.

    Kelly Shaw: Loggers Harassed by Bigfoot in Ghost Town of Deadwood
    Here's another fascinating story from Kelly Shaw. There's a couple of theories why the Bigfoot was harassing the loggers. Perhaps he was a little irate ...

    The Coshocton Bigfoot
    Marc DeWerth of Columbia Station will present the long history of Bigfoot sightings in Coshocton including at Woodbury Wildlife Refuge, Wills Creek ...

    October 2014
    Ron Morehead is has provided some of the most noteworthy audio evidence in Bigfoot Research. Known as the Sierra Sounds or to laymen as the 

    "Jacobs Creature" Spotted at Bluff Creek
    Six years ago, Bigfoot researcher Rick Jacobs captured two trail cam photographs of what the BFRO believe is a Bigfoot. Are the following

    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.



    THE GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN IS CONSIDERABLY BETTER THAN HE WAS

    The Gonzo Daily - Thursday
     
    So life continues apace. I have been helping one of my students with her coursework about zoonotic diseases, counselling no less than three friends with big problems in their lives, putting the finishing touches to two major cryptozoology books that will be published in the next few weeks and listening to the new Leonard Cohen album. Not bad considering the fact that I didn't get up until gone midday after a late night with the Cornish ghost hunters followed by a session of OCD recording which went on until gone four! The Cohen album is particularly impressive. I enjoyed the previous one which was basically him reciting poetry over a musical backing, but on this one he is singing again and often sounding like Frank Zappa. The tone is much darker, and more to my taste. It is gloriously bluesy, and I have to wonder whether the reviewers who have described it as a folk album have actually listened to the bloody thing! In other news, I wuld just like to say that being a grandfather is awesome!
     
     
    Ageing Hipsters, rock and roll historians, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Gong fans and all sorts of other people, had better look out! The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#97) will soon be available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/.
     
    It has me being totally seld indulgent with a picture of my first grand-daughter (born a few days ago) on the cover, but features an interview with the legendary Freddy Bannister, promoter of festivals at Bath and Knebworth amongst others. He talks about Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd amongst others. Doug Harr goes to see Tears for Fears, and Jon is surprisingly reassuring about the future of the music business. There are also new shows from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the massively talented Jaki and Tim are back with their submarine and Maisie the cow. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and Mollucan palm cockatoos (OK, no weird pink parrots, 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!
     
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/
     
    *  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?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN 1836 - Charles Darwin returned to England after 5 years of acquiring knowledge around the world about fauna, flora, wildlife and geology. He used the information to develop his "theory of evolution" which he unveiled in his 1859 book entitled The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

  • The world stands up for rhinos and elephants
  • Manta Ray Traffickers Busted in Indonesia
  • Invasive Chinese mitten crab found in Scotland pro...
  • 'Drunk' Moose Terrorizing Sweden Probably Not Even...
  • Firemen give pet hamsters oxygen
  • Tigers recorded in Thailand's Salakpra Wildlife Sa...
  • Dolphins receive protection from the Jamaican Gove...
  • Invasive apple snail threatens Florida Everglades ...

  • New Moscow aquarium will become home to wild orcas...


  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)