PROBABLY THE GREATEST THING EVER (and that's official)

NEIL ARNOLD WRITES: Who let the dogman out?

Hi guys,

I recorded Richard a Dogman docu a while back and came across this new link of the footage via Nick Redfern. Any ideas? It's quite creepy and the original footage I sent Rich has been cleaned up a lot here. I think it's a hoax simply because the way it's filmed, especially with the ending. Also, check out the photo on the link of the 'Bigfoot' said to be holding a small dog.

http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2009/07/another-look-michigan-dogman.html

RICHARD FREEMAN WRITES: The photos look like a costume but the film looks real. At first I thought it might be a black bear, but the animal seems to have ears that are too long and floppy. It might be a big dog like a Newfoundland, or a Newfoundland crossed with a rottweiler. The only think that gives me pause (paws?) for thought is the thickness of the creature's legs - they do seem a little chunky even for a big dog. Of course, the creature does not 'change form' as it runs towards the camera. It's a very interesting film. Of course it could be a guy calling over his big dog, and getting it to jump up and mouth the camera.

NAOMI WEST: Lampasas Land Monster

A recent discovery has been made in Lampasas County, Texas: a large land monster is said to inhabit an open field to the left of Highway 190 West.

Richie and I were fortunate enough to spot this monster on our way to Austin three days ago.

We immediately pulled off the road to take her picture before she could vanish. Amazingly, we succeeded in capturing two very clear shots of her, but the pictures have been met with skepticism, including the typical “Photoshop” allegation.



Out of deference to the Loch Ness Monster, Richie refers to the Lampasas Land Monster as “Lessie.” True to our photo, Lessie has been reported as having the appearance of a rust-colored serpent with a seahorse-shaped head and emerald green eyes. She has been seen by a surprising number of residents and commuters, and one lady even claims to have walked up and touched her. There is much speculation as to what she could be, the two most popular theories being:

1) an evolved species of sea serpent that adapted when the ocean disappeared from Central Texas, or
2) a carefully constructed formation of bulldozer tracks.

Eyewitness reports indicate that Lessie frequents the same general
area of the field, and tends to remain remarkably still during
sightings. They say the best chances of spotting her are when the
grass is mowed.

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

By now you know what’s coming next: links to the latest cryptozoology news stories from the CFZ daily cryptozoology news blog and a bad pun.

Auckland conservation boost to kokako numbers
Rare shark found dead in Kerry
Toothless laws encourage rising demand for pangolin
Monster fish killed after terrorising Swiss swimmers
Rampaging elephants cause diplomatic row between India and Nepal
Longest insect migration revealed
Farmers 'key' to badger TB trial
Indian tiger park 'has no tigers'
Bat colony shuns £20,000 new home
New home for three orphaned fawns
Hopefully they won’t get ‘fawn’ed over too much.

FLEUR SENT US...

...this collection of natural history specimens from a Texas museum. Good stuff.

Donated by the Nations family and collected by D.A. Cleveland starting in 1880, there are more than 150 species of bird eggs on display. Three of the species are extinct. B.F. Hicks – Mt. Vernon Historical Society “Knowing that there were 161 Passenger Pigeon eggs left on the planet earth, and only 27 Carolina Parakeet eggs left, we spent $55,000 making this small room with the climate control and the lighting, and up to national archive standards and brought in Smithsonian experts and consultants to do it right.”...

Read On

ONLY A MONTH TO GO

For immediate release
2009-07-15

PUNK ROCK LEGEND AND MONSTER HUNTERS RUB SHOULDERS IN NORTH DEVON AND A NEW MONSTER HUNTING EXPEDITION IS ANNOUNCED

From the 14th to the 16th of August this year, the sleepy North Devon village of Woolsery is to play host to the largest gathering of monster and mystery researchers in the world. The tenth annual Weird Weekend is bringing speakers from as far afield as Australia to talk on their adventures and discoveries.

This year’s line up includes Rat Scabies, drummer with the legendary punk band The Damned, who will be regaling the audience with tales of his hunt for the Holy Grail (we are NOT joking). Tim the Yowie Man has flown in all the way from Australia to speak about his hunt for the yowie, the yeti like ape-man of the Australian bush. Tim the Yowie Man is an Australian cryptozoologist and paranormal investigator. In 2008, he was nominated for `Australian of the Year` for his work in raising environmental awareness.

Other speakers include:

· Irish scholar Ronan Coghlan who will be speaking on the lost continent of Atlantis.
· Tim Matthews on crop circles
· Andy Roberts, renowned researcher and author, on The Big Grey man of Ben McDhui
· Ecologist Oll Lewis who will be giving us his theory on the Kraken, the multi-armed monster of maritime folklore.
· Julian Vane who will be showing us some of the weirder exhibits from Devonshire museums.
· Dr Jan Bondeson who will be revealing the secrets of the death-dealing medieval serpent known as the basilisk.
· From the USA Nick Redfern will be looking into Russian experiments to hybridise humans and apes.

But there is far more to the Weird Weekend than just talks. The organisers, The Centre for Fortean Zoology - the world’s only full time scientific organisation dedicated to researching mystery animals - will be revealing details of their latest thrilling expedition. Each year, the Centre takes part in at least one expedition to the farthest flung reaches of the world on the track of monsters and mystery beasts.

Also appearing will be Sam Shearon and Anthony Wallis; fortean artists who will be exhibiting their monster related artwork. Taxidermist Jon McGowan will be exhibiting his wildlife photography and stuffed animals. There will also be stalls, quizzes, competitions and activities for children.

Tickets for the three-day event cost £20 in advance or £25 on the door. More information can be found on the Weird Weekend website at www.weirdweekend.org

For more details, or to interview any of the speakers, please telephone Jon, Corinna or Oll on 01237 431413

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is the world’s largest mystery animal research organisation. It was founded in 1992 by British author Jonathan Downes (49) and is a non-profit making (not for profit) organisation registered with H.M. Stamp Office.
• Life-president of the CFZ is Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE, best known for his groundbreaking youth work organising the ‘Operation Drake’ and ‘Operation Raleigh’ expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s.
• CFZ Director Jonathan Downes is the author and/or editor of over 20 books. Island of Paradise, his first-hand account of two expeditions to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in search of the grotesque vampiric chupacabra, will be published in the next few weeks.
• The CFZ have carried out expeditions across the world including Russia, Sumatra, Mongolia, Guyana, Gambia, Texas, Mexico, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Loch Ness, and Loch Morar.
• CFZ Press are the world’s largest publishers of books on mystery animals. They also publish Animals & Men, the world’s only cryptozoology magazine, and The Amateur Naturalist, Britain’s only dedicated magazine on the subject.
• The CFZ produce their own full-length documentaries through their media division called CFZtv http://www.cfztv.org/ . One of their films Lair of the Red Worm, which was released in early 2007 and documents their 2005 Mongolia expedition, has now been seen by nearly 50,000 people.
• The CFZ is based in Jon Downes’s old family home in rural North Devon, which he shares with his wife Corinna (52). It is also home to various members of the CFZ’s permanent directorate and a collection of exotic animals. Jonathan Downes presents a monthly web TV show called On the Track (http://cfzmonthly.blogspot.com/ ), which covers cryptozoology and work of the CFZ.
• The CFZ are opening a Visitor Centre and Museum in Woolsery, North Devon.
• Following their successful partnership with Capcom http://www.capcom.com/ on the 2007 Guyana expedition, the CFZ are looking for more commercial sponsors.
  

RICHARD FREEMAN: BIG FISH ROUNDUP

Guest Blogger time for Richard Freeman again. It almost seems silly introducing Richard to you all once again when he makes an appearance as guest blogger several times a week. However, our viewing audience/ readers (whatever you like to call yourselves) is growing so fast that it is certain that some of you missed the last time I introduced him.

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/2009/07/monster-fish-killed-after-terrorising.html

The recent story of a zander attacking people in a Swiss lake (see above) seems a bit of a letdown when you hear this freshwater Jaws was only a little over 2 feet long.

Monster fish in freshwater do exist however. Back in the late 1990s Jon started the Big Fish Project to collect and investigate stories of outsize fish in freshwater. I admit that I was very sceptical about the whole idea at first. I thought all it would elicit would be twice-told anglers' tales and the odd trout a few pounds larger than average. The one exception in my mind was the eel that I thought (and still think) can reach fantastic sizes under certain circumstances and is probably responsible for a number of lake monster stories.

However the Big Fish Project led to the CFZ’s most successful expedition to date; not to some remote jungle or dessert but to a small lake in Lancashire. The CFZ were called in to investigate claims of a monster the size of a car lurking in Martin Mere, a wildfowl reserve. The creature was reported to be attacking full-grown swans.

At first I found the whole idea unlikely. This view was reinforced when I saw the lake. It was no more than 2 acres in size and only 5 feet deep at its maximum. I said to Jon that it was highly unlikely that a large predator could live in here. Half an hour later I saw the monster of Martin Mere. It surfaced only six feet from where I was standing on the bank. It was around 8 feet long and thicker around than me. It was an oily blackish-green with a texture like wet rubber and a shape like a huge sausage. The creature bore no scales but had a small fin on its back.

I instantly knew what the monster of Martin Mere was: a wells catfish Silurus glanis. Imported from Russia by the Acclimatisation Society in Victorian days, this is the biggest catfish in the world, reaching 16 feet long in its native range.

I saw the beast twice and we later tracked it on sonar. Since then we have visited Loch Ness and Loch Morar in search of giant eels. Recently we have acquired 6 European eels to study their growth.

Mutant eels aside, the question of what is the largest freshwater fish is a difficult one. The current leaders are the Chinese paddlefish Psephurus gladius with a length of 23 feet and a weight of 1,100 pounds. This giant may be on its way to extinction as none have been seen since 2003 and no baby fish have been seen since 1996.

Gehzouba hydroelectric dam divided the Yangtze River into two sections, cutting off the migratory route of the paddlefish in 1983. It separated the spawning grounds from the feeding grounds and has probably sentenced this fish to extinction.

Another contender is the Mekong giant stingray Himantura chaophraya with a total length of 23 feet (including the long tail) and a weight of 1,100-1,300 lbs. Deforestation and dam construction has caused this species to become critically endangered in Thailand.