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, July 01, 2011

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/OWLMAN-Jonathan-Nolan/dp/B002ACWPFO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309541722&sr=1-1

"OWLMAN! The tiny town of Mawnan is terrorized by a night flying shapeshifter - part gorgeous goddess part creature from the pit!"

It sounds brilliant! I want a copy.

PRETTY MUSHROOMS GROWING AMIDST MY GRANDMOTHER'S ROSE BED


(She would - I am sure - not approve)

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

From Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...":
CFZ-Canada
All-Things Mothy!
Reviewed: Investigating the Impossible
Weird Creature Report
Dark Ness at Loch Ness

From CFZ Australia:
Hairy-nosed wombat debuts in Victoria
Gene map may pull Devil back from brink
Papua New Guinea reveals 1000+ new species
A Tasmanian Tiger sighting (1981)
Bunyip or Yowie? The hunt is on in Richmond Vale
The Gayndah Bear returns...
On the trail of the cryptids

ANIMAL HAIR SCULPTURE

Regular readers will know about my (often frustrating) membership of a newsgroup called 'Old Hong Kong' which occasionally sends me pictures of Hong Kong pre WW2 (which is what it is supposed to do) and the rest of the time inundates my inbox with bizarre stuff (mostly soft porn and exhortations to join the Foreign Exchange market). However, sometimes this bizarre stuff includes bloggable gems like this:

"These bizarre looking hair set is the creation of Japanese designer, Nagi Noda, which created them in her typical eccentric style. During her short life, she created ads for Nike and Coca-Cola; however, she is probably most famous for her hair hats. Everyone seemed to know who she was after she created a hair hat for Lady Gaga. I put a selection of her other hair hats below for your enjoyment.............

I only have the vaguest of ideas who Lady Gaga is, but the pictures re peculiar enough (and vaguely animal-related) to be included...























HAUNTED SKIES: Some 1962 Press Cuttings

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2011/07/some-1962-press-cuttings.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

At 1pm today in the UK, and other countries where we pointlessly mess with our clocks, and at noon in the rest of the world it will be exactly halfway though the year, well done folks, not much more to go now. The Christmas stuff should start showing up in shops soon, The Card Factory were the first last year with the Christmas stuff showing up in August (I kid ye not).
And now the news:

Turtles Invade JFK Airport Tarmac
Scientists cast doubt on North America’s hunting b...
Singing Penis Insect Proves Size Does Matter
Seven new species of mice discovered in The Philip...
Wade Scholte, Parker, Colorado Boy, Has Moth Pulle...
Prehistoric Aurochs Remains Reveal Caveman Grillin...
Egg collection last chance for Critically Endanger...

Eggs! Eggs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Htj0_4Job8

DALE'S MAILBOX

Today Dale's blog is another trawl through his mailbag, including discussions on many-finned sea serpents and giant beavers...
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/06/some-more-from-mailbag-i.html

RSPB: WILDLIFE FORGOTTEN IN THE NEXT EU BUDGET

WILDLIFE FORGOTTEN IN THE NEXT EU BUDGET

The European Commission has squandered a key chance to save Europe’s countryside and wildlife. That’s the reaction from the RSPB and its European partners following the European Commission’s latest Budget statement which proposes the EU’s financial commitments after 2013.

Last week the RSPB was warning of significant cuts to wildlife-friendly farming within yesterday’s budget. The budget figures reveal a cut of around five per cent in funding for wildlife-friendly farming. However, this is against the backdrop of an overall increase in the EU budget by five per cent, so the overall money spent on wildlife-friendly farming has dropped significantly as a proportion of the overall budget.

Martin Harper is the RSPB’s Conservation Director. Commenting on the Budget, he said: “Last-minute campaigning efforts by us and our supporters have averted the toppling of funding for the environment. However, it’s clear this budget still lacks vision and doesn’t provide the foundation necessary for improving Europe’s environment.

“It is great news that plans to radically cut the funding for landowners for environmental benefits have been pushed off the table. But the Commission’s hopes of tackling climate change, wildlife loss and environmental degradation won’t be realised with such a timid budget. This budget does not reflect a progressive Europe which cares about its environmental commitments.

“Now we need to fight even harder to ensure the best deal for Europe’s wildlife and the environment from this disappointing budget by getting it on the best track possible.”

Over 8000 RSPB supporters, including hundreds of farmers, have emailed Jose Manual Barroso (The European Commission President) directly, urging him not to axe environmental payments to landowners in this budget. This pressure proved vital in the negotiations yesterday when significant cuts were still on the table.

Martin Harper added: “We are grateful to our supporters who stepped up to the challenge by contacting Mr Barroso directly. Their support has helped retain most of the existing pot of cash for activities which can improve the environment. But we were looking for so much more. Now, we and our supporters will have to step up again for nature by lobbying governments and MEPs to honour Europe’s environmental commitments.

“These proposals will come as a great disappointment to the many farmers in the UK who are queuing up to put wildlife-friendly measures on their land through environmental stewardship schemes. The ball is now in the UK Government’s court to fight for an increase in funding for these schemes. Only then will they be able to achieve their target of halting biodiversity loss over the next decade.”

In 2010, the European Commission agreed to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2020. It has also agreed to achieve sustainable agriculture by 2020 under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The Budget proposal does include important positive elements:

- 30 per cent of the CAP income subsidies being attached to (unspecified) “greening” commitments

- Re-orientation of the fisheries fund towards support for sustainable fisheries and conservation of the marine environment

- Environmental and climate proofing of cohesion policy investments

- LIFE+ has increased from €2.18bn to €3.2bn: a significant rise (although in real terms less than 30 percent), which still falls far short of what RSPB and BirdLife International had called for.