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...




Thursday, May 17, 2018

CARL MARSHALL CRITIQUES TWO RECENT UK MYSTERY CAT SIGHTINGS



Ilfracombe sighting
Carl: "The Ilfracombe sighting reported to the North Devon Gazette by Bex Fitch and her children on The Torrs could well be a valid report of what might have been a genuine big cat. Unfortunately, simply being described as a "large dark cat" does not help us to identify this animal to a specific level. However, the basic anatomy described by the witnesses could indicate a medium to large sized Felid of unknown species, this along with the fact the mystery animal was viewed for a full five to seven minutes would seen to limit the possibility of misidentification on the part of Miss Fitch and her family. On a relatively light spring evening five to seven minutes would likely be more than enough time to spot some canine features at close range should they have simply witnessed an escaped or feral domestic dog! To me this report sounds genuine enough!"

Totnes attack
Carl: "If i had to bet money as to the identity of the animal responsible for the attack on the unfortunate ewe near Churchstow and photographed for the Totnes Times, I would say it was likely the work of a large domestic dog with very powerful jaw muscles such as a German shepherd or possibly even one of the bull breeds. The fact there was only one deep injury located on the hind quarters of the sheep does indicate canine activity, and more than likely has nothing whatsoever to do with the local eyewitness reports such as the one described by Mr Turner in the South Hams. If a large cat had dragged down a sheep and started eating its hind area (which they often do!) the sheep would have very likely been killed beforehand. Domestic dogs usually chase down one or more sheep by biting at any area that comes into close range of their primary weapon - the teeth and jaws! This usually means grabbing the unfortunate sheep by its hind limbs and dragging it down, however a very powerful dog would likely be fully capable of snatching a sheep by its flesh and connective tissues and tearing a chunk away after several violent tugs. The fact there were no other injures present such as deep slashes caused by teeth and claws around the head, neck, and shoulders strongly indicates a single dog worrying incident."

On The Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep. 91 (US lake monster, Arizona cryptid, Argentine monster etc)



Here we have the tenth episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson, their families and other animals. This episode contains: • A British thylacine • A bumblebee that barks • Carolina lake monster • Argentine monster • A Harry Potter hoax • Graham in Arizona • Arizona cryptids • The mystery of the Danish earwig • PRODUCT PLACEMENT - An art project about North Sea fish • Richard Muirhead interview • Mystery animals from Minnesota • Watcher of the skies • New and rediscovered: New Chinese goby • New and rediscovered: New Israeli eel • New and rediscovered: Three new chamaeleons • New and rediscovered: New Danube gudgeon • New and rediscovered: New toad from the Dominican republic • New and rediscovered: Three new birds of paradise • New and rediscovered: Five new opah • New and rediscovered: New African bats • New and rediscovered: New frog genus • New and rediscovered: New snake • Fair use • Coming next month • The Patreon campaign • The team says goodbye until next month You can support us, and help us make this show ever more bigger and better at our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

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 COMPLIANT

The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
 
I have finally bitten the bullet and done it: I believe that all of our mailing lists are now GDPR compliant. It is still a pain in the arse to have had to do, and a bureaucratic nightmare, and like so many other pieces of ill conceived legislation, it is going to cause chaos and screw up all sorts of people's businesses and finances. But I think that we are out of the woods, finally. What an annoying waste of time it has all been.
 
Changing the subject completely, is there anyone reading this who has any experience in coding apps? Even more importantly, if you do, would you be prepared to lend your expertise to us for a few hours? Email me please at jon@eclipse.co.uk.
 
And for those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
 
 
And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
 
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
 
buy my novel:
buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
buy my single:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
TONY KLINGER INTERVIEW
FOR THOSE OFYOU INTERESTED IN MY DAY JOB
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Britten: War Requiem
FRANK ZAPPA NEWS
 
Gonzo Weekly #285
THE AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ISSUE
 
As Netflix streams (almost) the entire output of the Monty Python team plus a whole bunch of documentaries, we take a nostalgic look at these Titans of Comedy. Doug remembers Mr Rogers, Corinna looks at Hawkwind on eBay, John looks forward to upcoming gigs, and bemoans recent bankruptcies, Biffo talks about the toxic fandom of Ricky Gervais and Alan goes Busking.
 
#Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and long nosed potoroos who have stood around waiting for other potoroos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have decided to stage a reading of the Samuel Beckett classic, 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:
 
Monty Python, Wayne Kramer, MC5, John Lennon, Julia Baird, Selfridges, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Suede, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Vladimir Borisovich Sapunov, Dick Williams, Abi Ofarim, Tony Cucchiara, Stephen "Steve" Coy, Tony Kinman, Gayle Shepherd, Ben Graves, Carl Perkins, Big T, David William Goodall AM, Ashton, Gardner, Dyke & Co., Michael Bruce, Man, Karnataka, Doug Harr, Fred Rogers, Alan Dearling, Street Performing, Jonny Walker, John Brodie-Good, upcoming gigs, Gibson Guitars, Oppo, Shure, Business Catalyst, Kev Rowland, Birzer Bandana, Bleeding Gods, Broken Cross, Colin Edwin/Robert Jurjendal, Corrosion of Conformity, Discipline, Flaming Row, Martin Schnella & Melanie Mau, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Chris Stone, Hawkwind, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Jon Dunn, Jerry Garcia, Elvis, Beatles, Offspring, Victoria Beckham, David Bowie, Jimii Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Mark Fry
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
Issue 279 (Biffo)
Issue 278 (The Beatles)
Issue 277 (Auld Man's Baccie)
Issue 276 (Dukes of the Orient)
Issue 275 (Martin Gordon)
Issue 274 (Steve Took)
Issue 273 (Live Dead 69)
Issue 272 (George Butler)
Issue 271 (Mark E Smith)
Issue 270 (Eric Clapton)
Issue 269 (Narnia)
Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
Issue 265-6 (The Who)
Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
Issue 263 (The magic Band)
Issue 262 (DikMik)
Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
 
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?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Thursday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1540 - Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Museum researchers rediscover animal not seen in 3...
  • New DNA screening reveals whose blood the vampire ...
  • New ant species from Borneo explodes to defend its...
  • Five new blanket-hermit crab species described 130...



  • 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)