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, September 02, 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: Five days on, tiger in Kheri yet to be f...
  • UK SIGHTING: Big cat captured on video? Panther li...
  • 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.








      NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)




      Is the Loch Ness Monster close to being discovered by THIS expert? ... To get to the historic castle, they needed to sail along Loch Ness on Sunday ...


      BLOODY HELL IT'S THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

      The Gonzo Daily - Friday/Saturday
      I am on the want today. Is there anybody out there reading this who has any knowledge or experience of setting up a succesful Patron campaign. The only time I ever did it it was a massive and spectacular disaster. As you may have read On The Track, our monthly webTV show is on the way back. I have been planning to bring it back for a while now.. but with the advent of the charming and beautiful Miss Chloe Gray who now works in my office (see below) and is probably the best assistant I have ever had, I have decided to bring it back. When, where, how, exactly, I'm not sure yet. There will be some changes to the format and it will be given a stylistic reboot in order to mark the fact that it is no longer just presented by a tedious old hippy, but is presented by a sassy young lady with attitude. But never fear : it will not be dumbed down, it will be as anarchic as ever, and will be featuring regular input from our man in Ohio – Colin Schneider. It is not about the money, but if it can generate an income stream via Patreon or sponsorship, it means that we will be able to do more with it.
      Whilst on the subject, if there is anyone reading this who would like to do some video segments for it, please email me or buzz me on Facebook. 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:
      And now for the news................
      THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Al Stewart - Three Mul...
      Jon Anderson at Yestival 94
      A young Steve Ignorant with Vi Subversa from The P...
      Coming this weekend
      THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
      Gonzo Magazine #197
      In this issue we say goodbye to a gracious and very talented lady: Gilli Smyth of Gong. Doug goes to see Brian Ferry, Alan goes to see what the British Library has to say about Punk, and explains Futurology and Free Cultural Spaces, while Jon waffles on about stuff.
      And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, and Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a thrilling and slightly disturbing episode of Xtul. 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:
      Michael Moorcock, Dave Bainbridge, Celestial Fire Band, Gong, Bart Lancia, The Who, Stick Men, Brian May, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Gillian "Gilli" Mary Smyth, Machali, Tom Searle, Matt Roberts, Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix, CBE, DL, The Boomtown Rats, Karnataka, Rick Wakeman, Rob Ayling, Billy James, Matthew Watkins, Alexandria Krysinski, Brian Ferry, Alan Dearling, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Futurology and Free Cultural Spaces, Hawkwind, Xtul, Elvis, Queen, Keith Richards, Joy Division, Neil Nixon, Johnny Cash, The Beatles                                                               
      Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
      Issue 196 (Paul May)
      Issue 195 (Dave Brock)
      Issue 194 (Auburn)
      Issue 193 (Genre Peak)
      Issue 192 (Rick Wakeman and Brian May)
      Issue 191 (Karnataka)
      Issue 190 (Erik Norlander)
      Issue 189 (Rick Wakeman at the O2)
      Issue 187/8 (Yer holiday special)
      Issue 186 (Beatles)
      Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
      Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
      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 57 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?

      BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



      Bigfoot In New Mexico News Report (Video)
      New Mexico is abuzz with bigfoot rumblings while Jeff Meldrum is visiting the state for a confernce on bigfoot in New Mexico. There have been quite a ...

      NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Friday/Saturday

      ON THIS DAY IN - 31 B.C. - The Roman leader Octavian defeated the alliance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian, as Augustus Caesar, became the first Roman emperor. 
      And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

    • Sluggy McSlugface no more: sea slug named for fly-...
    • Storms devastate monarch butterflies' forest habit...
    • Fisherman hands in giant pearl he kept under the b...
    • Cuttlefish found to have number sense and state-de...
    • What conservation isn’t: Eating endangered lemurs ...
    • One of the World's Oldest Tigers Has Died
    • Humans caught the common cold from camels, scienti...
    • Beetles pollinated orchids millions of year ago, f...
    • Novel molecular clues behind nocturnal behavior



    • 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)