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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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Monday, August 31, 2015

CARL MARSHALL: Deadly new resident at Stratford Butterfly Farm

A deadly black widow spider Latrodectus mactans is settling into a new life at Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm after being found in a VW campervan imported from California, USA.
The campervan was imported from Sacramento, California, last October by a couple (who do not wish to be named) who bought it from the states unaware of its potentially dangerous passenger.

The deadly find was discovered by a mechanic working underneath the vehicle, who after power washing the underside noticed a small black spider with a red hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen.

We then collected the unwanted stowaway and it now resides in my "nasties" tank - a locked and alarmed biological hazard enclosure devoted to venomous species located in Arachnoland, near Insect City.
Black widows are extremely venomous and though they do not always cause death, because they only inject a small amount of venom, their bite is extremely painful and symptoms can last for several weeks if one is lucky enough to survive.

Also a few weeks ago I was asked to collect a "small banded snake" from an elderly gentleman's garden in Stratford which turned out to be a harmless baby corn snake Pantherophis guttatus; obviously an escaped pet!

Both of these unusual visitors can now be viewed in complete safety at Stratford Butterfly Farm.

For more information visit
www.butterflyfarm.co.uk 

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



SC EP:141 Sasquatch running down the hill
Twenty-three years ago I saw my first Bigfoot footprint in the woods. ... This book is a compilation of my experiences in the forests where Bigfoot lives.

SC EP:141 Sasquatch running down the hill
Twenty-three years ago I saw my first Bigfoot footprint in the woods. ... This book is a compilation of my experiences in the forests where Bigfoot lives.

Man Thinks He Found Mother And Baby Bigfoot Tracks
When people think about bigfoot,t hey naturally think about giant feet, but bigfoot isn't born that way. This man believes he has found the tracks of a ...

Episode 62: Sasquatch in Alaska
A podcast about Bigfoot from the glorious state of Ohio. ... https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/saswhat-podcast-about-bigfoot/id889714608?mt=2

Bigfoot filmed at Bluff Creek 2008...The Story of How We Got this Important Footage
Friday, August 28, 2015. This is a record of the events that led up to the filming of the Sasquatch only .2 of a mile from the Patterson Bigfoot film site.

This Finland Bigfoot Story Is Really Creepy (Video)
The Fear Channel on Youtube shares this creepy bigfoot story all the way from Finland. Have you ever heard of a bigfoot running down a wall like a ...

The Large Breasted Bigfoot Has Been Enhanced! (Video)
A big thank you to Rainbow Moon Raven for this photo enhancement of my video of the Large Breasted Sasquatch now Titled Adult Sasquatch with ...

The Patterson-Gimlin Film of Bigfoot: What Skeptics Still Struggle to Explain
In the 40+ years since the release of this alleged Bigfoot documentation dozens of brains have picked over its every detail. Some such as the late Dr.

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HAS A HOLIDAY FROM BANKING

The Gonzo Daily - Monday
www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html
I rather like wet Bank Holiday Mondays. Autumn is my favourite time of year, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and all that jazz. But I am very much aware that this is y last Bank Holiday until what is euphemistically known as the "Festive Season", and then it all begins again. Jessica and I are still sorting out the office, so be aware that this is another week in which blogs may well come in at unusual times...
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: The Boomtown Rats - Li...
YES AND TOTO'S REPLACEMENT PLAYERS HAD A NIGHT OF ...
How Can Frank Zappa's Colorful Life Possibly Fit i...
Fairport Convention and stars of folk in Ilfracomb...
Gonzo Weekly #145
www.gonzoweekly.com
Hawkwind, Twink, Stackridge, Alice Cooper, Robert Plant, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, Jon Anderson, and Yes fans had better look out!
The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#145) is available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/. It has Dave Brock from Hawkwind cutting his birthday cake (picture courtesy Brian Tawn) on the front cover together with a round up of what is coming up for the Grand-daddys of Space Rock, We also have an exclusive interview with Twink about his new album - a sequel to the legendary Think Pink, and a look at the history of Stackridge to tie in with the band's last ever gigs. Doug looks at Alice Cooper, Lee at Half Man Half Biscuit, Jon muses about Robert Plant. Thom waxes all poetical like, whilst the legendary Roy Weard continues his regular column. And there is a radio show from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the first of four Strange Harvest radio specials from the folk wot bring you Strange Fruit. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and water opossums with something to lose (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials planning to pray to St Anthony of Padua for an intercession, 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!!!
This issue features:
Robert Plant, Kenney Jones, Rufus Wainwright, The Who, Barbara Dickson, Bob Dylan, The Zombies, Steve Hackett, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Russell Henderson, Rick Wakeman, The Boomtown Rats, Karnataka, Twink, Alice Cooper, Stackridge, Ade Macrow, Lee Walker, Half Man/Half Biscuit, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Dave Brock,
Lemmy, Motorhead, Jess Heard, Bee and Flower, Beatles, Elvis, Haight-Ashbury, Neil Nixon, William Basinski, Huldre
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
Issue 139 (Raz cover)
Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
Issue 135 (FNP cover)
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:
* 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/…/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit…
* 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 56 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and a small kitten totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, 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 infantile orange cat, and the adventurous kitten?

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: Rare snow leopard cubs born at Chicago z...
  • NEWSLINK: Panic grips village as big cat kills cow...
  • NEWSLINK: Lions Mysteriously Fall Ill in Northern ...

  • NEWSLINK: Zambia: U.S Envoy Wants Big Cats Ban Mai...
  • NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Monday

    ON THIS DAY IN 1823 - Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain when invited French forces entered Cadiz. The event is known as the Battle of Trocadero. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Fossil remains of Old World lizard discovered in t...
  • Invasive caterpillar 'could spread in UK'
  • New species of robber frog discovered in Bolivia

  • Bats wake up and smell the coffee

  • 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)