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...




Friday, May 12, 2017

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: Tamil Nadu: Mudumalai hotspot for tiger ...
  • NEWSLINK: Big cat count increases in Assam's Orang...
  • NEWSLINK: Ninth tiger death in Uttarakhand in just...

  • VIDEO: Trainer knocked out and bitten by massive l.
  • THE MONKEY TOWN PARADE by Liz Bitakaramire

    Some of you may remember my previous blog post back in 2009 about the origins of Heywood's unofficial moniker of 'Monkey Town.' Well, last weekend, your Greater-Mancunian correspondent is happy to report, monkey business hit an all-time high with the first annual Monkey Town Parade.

    In the week before the festivities, nine life-size gorilla statues were installed at various locations around the town.

    Helen Johnson, of the Heywood Advertiser, reports that 'Hundreds of people' turned out for the inaugural event on Saturday, 6th May, which included a three-mile trail to visit all nine gorillas to make rubbings of their brass plaques - please, no jokes about monkeys and brass; it was actually quite a warm day.

    There is a also a competition running until the 25th August where those who collected all nine brass-rubbings can win one of the gorillas.

    Each sculpture was designed by local primary school children; members of the Heywood in Bloom organisation; PossAbilities, a disability charity; and created by artists. PossAbilities, who organised the event, also held a garden party at their premises, with 500 attendees.

    If you're in or around Heywood you can hunt for the apes until 25th August when they will be removed from their current locations and brought together for a 'gathering of the apes.'

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Official Bigfoot Reports from Allegheny County, PA
    In August of 1978 a small town in eastern Ohio was thrust into the spotlight when a local family sighted a Bigfoot in the woods behind their home.


    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 CROSSES THE AMAZON

    There must be something interesting to say about today, but I can't think of it. I did nearly all of the magazine late last night, and so it is now with Corinna for her to do her inimitable thing with it. Roll on the weekend. And - btw - Corinna has just been bitten by a water shrew she was rescuing.

    And now, here is the news:

    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Badfinger - Baby Blue ...
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-gonzo-track-of-day-badfinger-baby.html
    COMING LATER TODAY
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/coming-later-today.html
    GARDENING CLUB FEATURE
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/gardening-club-feature.html
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_12.html
    CORKY LAING IN THE NEWS
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/corky-laing-in-news.html


    Gonzo Magazine #233
    THE PHENOMENAL RISE OF... ISSUE
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/

    And so, in this week's phenomenally rising issue, Jeremy talks to Richard Strange in another world exclusive, Graham brings us Hawkwind news, Richard writes about David Nelson, Doug critiques the best gigs of the 1970s, Alan examines the trippier end of Turkish music and Jon raves on about Kipling.

    Good ‘ere innit?

    It’s all free!

    And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney, Friday Night Progressive, and Strange Fruit. We also have 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 outside 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:

    Rudyard Kipling, Stalky & Co., Queen + Adam Lambert, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Gorillaz, Marillion, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Billy Bragg, Erkki Kurenniemi, John M Shifflett, Bruce Hampton (Gustav Valentine Berglund III), Lorenzo "Zoe Realla" Dixon, Kevin Garcia, Saxa (Lionel Augustus Marrin), Mary Hopkin, This Misery Garden, Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, Jeremy Smith, Doctors of Madness, Richard Strange, Rolling Stone magazine, Alan Dearling, Turkey, BaBa ZuLa, Salih Saka, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Burhan Ocal, Brenna Mac Crimmon, Cigdem Aslan, Husnu Senlendirici, Ilhan Ersahin Istanbul Sessions, Nedim Nalbantoglu, Sabahat Akkiraz Orient Expressions, Selim Sesler,The Erkose Ensemble, Richard Foreman, David Nelson, Kev Rowland, Big Hogg, Billy Jones, Eric Gillette, Thieves' Kitchen, Carsten Sindvald, John Brodie Good, Hawkwind, Martin Springett, Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Beatles, Backstreet Boys, Father John Misty, Bob Dylan

    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

    Issue 232 (Roy Weard)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo232.html
    Issue 231 (Allan Holdsworth)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo231.html
    Issue 230 (Curtis Womack)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo230.html
    Issue 229 (Larry Wallis)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo229.html
    Issue 228 (Space Pharoahs)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo228.html
    Issue 227 (Chuck Berry)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo227.html
    Issue 225-6 (The Rites of Spring)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo225-6.html
    Issue 224 (Hibernal)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo224.html
    Issue 223 (Beatles)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo223.html
    Issue 222 (Cruise to the Edge)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo222.html
    Issue 221 (Deke Leonard)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo221.html
    Issue 220 (Larry Wallis)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo220.html
    Issue 219 (Martin Stone)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo219.html
    Issue 218 (Mark Reiser tribute)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo218.html


    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/

    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 57 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown 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 Archie and the Cats?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Friday/Saturday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1588 - King Henry III fled Paris after Henry of Guise triumphantly entered the city. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Denmark gets its first wild wolf pack in 200 years...
  • In search of the elusive saola - via Richard Freem...
  • 'Shocking' levels of PCB chemicals in UK killer wh...
  • Jurassic animal found on Skye 'fed milk to young'
  • Long lost monitor lizard 're-discovered' on Papua ...

  • 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.)