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, October 13, 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: Jaguars born in Benidorm
  • VIDEO: Leopard can’t stop checking out its own ref...
  • NEWSLINK: Injured tiger trapped
  • NEWSLINK: Is a cougar on the prowl in Peoria?

  • NEWSLINK: Pilikula Biological Park faces problem o...
  • 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.


  • Oldest known orange-bellied parrot makes welcome r...
  • Paris declares war on pigeons


  • Songbird populations may indicate trouble in north...
  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN MISSES MRS G-B-D-D

    The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
     
    Corinna is still on a much deserved holiday. I was once in a relationship with a girl who was an only child. It appears that her father was so upset by having to look after himself while her mother was in hospital, that he refused to have any further children. Pah! That is despicable.
     
    I am not one of those pathetic men who cannot function without their wives, but neither am I one of the ones who embraces the chance of personal space and freedom at every possible opportunity. But I love my wife very much and miss her when she is not around.
     
    Last night I had an unfortunate accident. In the night I had a tussle with one of the cats which ended up with my bedside light being knocked over. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the glass on the cupboard got broken and I cut my elbow without realising it, and so this morning I woke up in a pool of blood. Yes, as I say, I can function fine without my wife around, but I will admit to never having liked Friday 13th.
     
    Ta-ra
     
    Forgive me for banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for an many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
     
     
    But now, here is the news:
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: MICK FARREN & THE DEV...
    Norman Gunston Frank Zappa Interview
    200Fish is an art project whose objective is to ra...
    LEONARD COHEN NEWS
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
     
    Gonzo Weekly #255-6
    THE FALL OF LOVE DOUBLE ISSUE
     
    Tony Palmer, remembers when he first met John Lennon and talks about his film The Beatles and WW2, John provides an epilogue to the Summer of Love plus 50 celebrations, Alan goes to the Southdowns Folk Festival and critiques The Stone Tapes, Richard visits The Girl from the North Country, and Jeremy goes to Soho Rising: The Muses Invade Manette Street with the Doctors of Madness and also goes to see the Flamin' Groovies (Look, I spelled it right this time).
     
    Wooooot!
     
    And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney, Strange Fruit, and Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and common planigales who have cooked some stews (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have been culinarily creative, 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:
     
    David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, Wolf Alice, Florence Welch, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Thomas Earl Petty, Azra Kolakovic, Allan Thomas "Tom" Paley, Ellis CeDell Davis, Robert "Apex" Dickeson, Mary Hopkin, Barbara Dickson, Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, Rachmaninoff, Benjamin Britten, Tony Palmer, The Beatles, Alan Dearling, The Stone Tapes, M. Peach, K. Beem, Grey Malkin, Jeremy Smith, Flamin' Groovies, Theatre Royal, Southdowns Folk Festival, Wriggle Jigglers, Edgelarks, Charcoal Burners, The Cheer Up Mollys, Megson, The Alistair Goodwin Band, Homeservice, Skerryvore, John Brodie-Good, Summer of Love, Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton, David LaFlamme, Richard Foreman, Girl From the North Country, Bob Dylan, Doctors of Madness, Richard Strange, Lilybud, Jeremy Reed, Gingerlight, Kev Rowland, The Pilgrim, Rage, Rings of Saturn, Russkaja, Siiilk, Mr Biffo, Paul Rose, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Xtul, Dr Alex Durig, Rick Parfitt, Elvis, Charles Manson, Dennis Wilson, The Beach Boys, Derek Taylor, Jimi Hendrix,  Neil Nixon, Karen Elson
     
     
    Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
    Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
    Issue 252 (Cropredy)
    Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
    Issue 250 (Jamms)
    Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
    Issue 248 (The Selecter)
    Issue 247 (Don Airey)
    Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
    Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
    Issue 243 (Galahad)
    Issue 242 (Steve Miller Band)
    Issue 241 (Carol Hodge and Steve Ignorant)
    Issue 240 (Midsummer Madness)
    Issue 239 (Miss Peach)
    Issue 238 (Hawkwind)
    Issue 237 (Hawkwind)
    Issue 236 (Manchester)
    Issue 235 (Jon Anderson)
    Issue 234 (Al Atkins)
    Issue 233 (Richard Strange)
    Issue 232 (Roy Weard)
    Issue 231 (Allan Holdsworth)
    Issue 230 (Curtis Womack)
    Issue 229 (Larry Wallis)
    Issue 228 (Space Pharoahs)
     
    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 58 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?

    THYLACINES IN THE NEWS



    Thylacine: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger by David Owen
    By David Owen. Is it nonetheless available in the market? millions of Australians, together with committed and severe scientists, declare to maintain ...

    200Fish is an art project whose objective is to raise awareness of the biodiversity of the North Sea.

    200Fish is an art project whose objective is to raise awareness of the biodiversity of the North Sea.

    This project is run by Lincolnshire Time and Tide Bell CIC, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, responsible for installing Marcus Vergette's Bell on a Lincolnshire beach and using the arts to stimulate conversations about our coast.

    There are about 200 species of fish native to the North Sea. This project is to record their existence through works of art. 
    Mindful of the threats to the marine environment, global warming, ocean acidification, pollution, over-fishing and so on, we are inviting a large number of artists each to pick one of the fish species and produce a painting or other art-work therefrom.

    If you are an artist, or think you might become an artist, who would like to get involved here's what to do:

    Go to our webpage at bit.ly/200Fish

    1. Pick from the list of North Sea fish a species of your choice.
    2. Send us an email telling us which fish you have chosen. We will then add 'Work in progress' against that fish in the list, discouraging lots of people from choosing the same fish.
    3. When completed send us a photo of your work and a short biographical note and link to your own website, if any, for publication (if you wish). We will then add that to the fish list.

    As the project progresses our list will gradually be transformed into the catalogue for an exhibition which will be staged when getting on for 200 works are completed.

    Loosely aimed at Autumn 2018, there is no deadline yet set or date arranged for the exhibition. It will happen in its own time, the project developing at its own pace. That said, inclusion in the exhibition of worthy works is on a first come first served basis. When sufficient works have been submitted we will move to exhibition, so if you want your work included it would be better to act sooner rather than later. There is no entrance fee for submissions and you will be able, if you wish, to offer your work for sale.

    To get involved with 200Fish, Send us an email telling us your choice of fish.

    So get on, pick your fish, paint your picture!

    Biff Vernon,

    Secretary, Time and Tide Bell Community Interest Company

    bit.ly/TimeandTideBell

    Tithe Farm
    Church End
    North Somercotes
    Louth
    Lincolnshire
    LN11 7PZ
    01507 358413

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Friday/Saturday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1843 - B'nai B'rith, the Jewish organization, was founded by Henry Jones and eleven others in New York City, NY
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Nests of rare bees found in Cairngorms
  • This Caterpillar Mimics Bird Alarm Calls to Scare ...
  • Plenty of fish in the sea? Not necessarily, as his...
  • Cloudy with a Chance of Seafood? Fish Fall from Sk...


  • 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.