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...




Wednesday, May 04, 2016

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: Conroe tiger sent to animal sanctuary sh...
  • NEWSLINK: Female mountain lion a first for Southea...
  • 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.





    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Arkansas Bigfoot Conference with "Something In The Woods"
    This video was shot at this year's Arkansas Bigfoot Conference — featuring The Something In The Woods producers. From the looks of things, it looks ...

    Bob Gimlin Speaks at 2015 Ohio Bigfoot Confernce
    Bob Gimlin has to be the biggest celebrity in the Bigfoot kingdom. His role in the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin Footage has etched his name in Bigfoot history ...

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS IN A SURPRISINGLY GOOD MOOD

    The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday
     
    Today's factoid comes from our resident Insect geneticist and King Crimson nut, (soon to be Dr) Max Blake. He asks:
     
    What's the difference between a dirty bus stop, and a lobster with breast implants?
     
    And the answer is:
     
    One's a crusty bus station
    The other's a busty crustacean!
     
    How I love being one of the last bastions of science and culture.
     
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
     
    buy my novel:
    buy my single:
    buy tickets to the Weird Weekend:
    but the CFZ 2016 Yearbook:
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Hippie From New York C...
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    Arthur Brown Interview
    Billy Cobham interview 1993
    Badfinger - The Tragic Story
     
    Gonzo Magazine #180
     
    The Beltane issue is here so T Rex, The Who, Stonehenge, Steve Miller Band, Flaming Groovies, John Blaney, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out! After what has been a long and peculiar week, this issue features Doug musing on the spiritual message of The Who, Jeremy going to see The Flaming Groovies, Alan on the Free Stonehenge Campaign, John on the thorny subject of money,
    and there
    are radio shows from Strange Fruit and Mack Maloney, as well as the return of Friday Night Progressive, the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons ouyside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:
    Marc Bolan, Zhongyu, Marcelo Paganini, Prince, Adam Ant, Galahad, Roger Daltrey, AC/DC, Rick Wakeman, Strange Fruit, Friday  Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Billy Paul, Papa Wemba, Captain Beefheart, Brand X, Osibisa, Pink Fairies, Gram Parson's The International Submarine Band, Gib Guilbeau, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Sons of Fred, Percy Jones, Norman Wisdom featuring Rick Wakeman, The Who, Alan Dearling, Stonehenge Free Festival, Roy Weard, John Brodie-Good, Steve Miller, Younghusband, Flamin' Groovies, Mr Biffo, John Blaney, Hawkwind, Xtul, 10CC, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Kevin Ayers, Neil Nixon, Vashti Bunyan, Old Corpse Road
     
                                                                                        
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
     
    Issue 179 (Gregg Kofi Brown)
    Issue 178 (Viv Stanshall)
    Issue 177 (David Gilmour)
    Issue 176 (Joey Molland and The Raz Band)
    Issue 175 (Larry Sanders)
    Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)
    Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)
    Issue 172 (4th Eden)
    Issue 171 (Keith Levene)
    Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
    Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
    Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
    Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
    Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
    Issue 165 (David Bowie)
    Issue 164 (Free Festivals)
    Issue 163 (Lemmy)
    Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)
    Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)
    Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)
    Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)
    Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)
    Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)
    Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)
    Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)
    Issue 153 (Martin Barre)
    Issue 152 (4th Eden)
     
    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:
     
    SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
     
    * 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.co.uk
     
    * 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 two small kittens, one 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. 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 kittens?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1471 - In England, the Yorkists defeated the Landcastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in the War of the Roses. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • To Sell New York, the City Calls on the Ninja Turt...
  • Mane event: 33 lions flown home after rescue from ...
  • Deep-dwelling sharks may glow to communicate with ...
  • Taste test? Deer preferences seem to be helping no...

  • US claims success in efforts to save endangered sp...


  • 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)