New Zealand Cryptozoology

Mermaid sightings claimed in Israel-August 14, 2009

Tony — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:31:36 GMT

Locals of the town of Kiryat Yam have been congregating on the coast in the hopes of seeing one of the most beautiful mythological creatures of the sea-a mermaid.

The mermaid was first spotted by Shlomo Cohen and a group of friends when they "suddenly saw a woman lying on the sand in a weird way". At first they thought she was just another sunbather, but as they approached this sunbather lept up and jumped into the water, "we were all in shock because she had a tail" said Cohen

The towns tourism board is delighted with the new found fame and fortune that this mythological creature will bring to the area. Taking a cue from the town of Inverness in Scotland (home to the Loch Ness monster) the local government has offered 1 million and reward for the first film footage or still of this mysterious creature.

Is this a misidentification of some known fauna? Or could it just be that these people have really seen a mermaid, of which sightings have become more rare with the passing of the age of sailing ships. One would like to hope so.

Getting the Message out.

Tony4563 — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:53:33 GMT

My new found friend, Brad Scott over at New Zealand Paranormal recently did a hour-long interview with me which will apparently be broadcast on the night of 26th of August. For those who are interested you can catch this broadcast by listening to 783 AM Wellington Access Radio at 11 PM on a Wednesday night to be a show called NZPI Paranormal Radio, well worth tuning in to if you have an interest in the paranormal.
I also highly recommend the website NZ Paranormal

Check it out you will find it well worth it.

15th April 2009, 06:16am PDT

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:44:17 GMT

Alleged Big Cat Reported in Lindis Pass, New Zealand

The Himalayas had their Yetis, while Canada's Sasquatch was known informally as "Bigfoot". And now, the Lindis Pass hill country may - or may not - have its "Big Ginge".

Scottish tourists Charlie and Marie Limond photographed what they described as a "lynx-sized mountain lion", at McLeays Creek in the Lindis Pass.

"It was definitely way bigger than your domestic cat. About the size of an Alsatian dog," Mr Limond told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

The couple were driving along State Highway 8, through the Lindis Pass, last week, when Mr Limond said he saw the animal "out of the corner of my eye". They turned their car around and said they watched the big cat, about 200m away, from the roadside for about seven minutes.

"I got a real good look at it through my binoculars. Our small digital camera wasn't able to get a decent photograph, but it was the same goldy colour as a mountain lion," he said.

Mr Limond was unshaken in his belief he had seen a "small lion-like animal". He based his claims on having been to Africa and seen lions at game parks.
However, Wanaka Area Department of Conservation manager Paul Hellebrekers said the couple may have sighted an extremely large feral cat.

"There is nothing to substantiate that we're not just dealing with a very large cat," he said.

Dunstan Downs Station farmer Geva Innes laughed when the Otago Daily Times contacted her to ask whether there had been any reports of a "big ginger tomcat the size of a small lion" stalking the hills.

"We shoot feral cats round here," she said.

The feral pests often roamed the hills and grew big. Feral cats could also carry the disease toxoplasmosis, which caused abortions in sheep, she said.

NOTE: It's hard to gauge the true size of this animal but I suspect that it's a large feral cat...though the color is unusual for a feral feline. Lon

Monday, 2nd February 2009

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:38:59 GMT

Bats attack in Rotorua

This came hot off the press this morning, considering New Zealand only has small species of bats which are only seen in the forest and not capable of much damage to humans this case is definately a conundrum.

Source: Newstalk ZB

* Read

There are reports of bats attacking two men in Rotorua. Taxi driver Ngaia Monaham says two men jumped in her car near Amohia Street just after 3.00am Monday. She says they told a bizarre story of being attacked and bitten by bats. Monaham says she did not believe them at first but than noticed they had bite marks on their arms. She says she and another taxi driver went back to Amohia Street with a torch and found hundreds of bats flying around in the trees.

A press release from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (which I am proud to be associated with.) gives insight into their latest expedition of the trail of the Almasty in the Russian state of Karbadino-Balkaria. We wish them all the best on their expedition and safe return from this volatile area.

Here is a press release issued by Jon.
If you get a chance Watch the CFZ Monthly Telecast its always extremely interesting and Jon presents an excellent mix of the rare, cryptid and newly discovered.
http://cfzmonthly.blogspot.com/

19th June 2008

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:34:53 GMT

QUEST FOR A CAVEMAN

Man beasts and cave men in the 21st Century? Surely not. But a group of British explorers and scientists, backed by a renowned Geneticist from Oxford University, embark on an intrepid expedition into a war zone on Saturday, and they hope to come back with compelling evidence for the existence of such things.

The yeti is one of the most iconic mystery animals in the world. Even in the 21st Century when mankind likes to think that it has conquered all the wild places of the planet, this hulking, hairy man beast still rears its ancient head and intrigues zoologists and explorers alike.

Only this week, there has been news of a new yeti sighting in the remote West Garo hills of north-eastern India. Park ranger Dipu Marak described seeing "a black and grey ape-like animal which stands about 3m (nearly 10ft) tall". Recently Derbyshire based artist and conservationist Pollyanna Pickering hit the headlines when she released details of what appears, on the face of it, to be a specimen of a yeti scalp found in a remote monastery in Bhutan. The yeti appears to be an unknown species of ape, but sightings of such creatures, and perhaps more intriguingly, sightings of alleged primitive human-like creatures, which appear similar to the iconic Hollywood images of cave-men, still come in on a regular basis from around the world.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] in North Devon (the world's largest organisation which searches for unknown animal species) is launching a major new expedition this week. The five explorers, led by zoologist Richard Freeman (38) - the Zoological Director of the Bideford-based centre - will be ignoring Foreign Office suggestions and flying to the tiny Russian state of Karbadino-Balkaria for a three week expedition. In Russia they will be liaising with Ukranian biologist Grigoriy Panchenko who has been studying the creatures for fourteen years and who has had four sightings of the wildmen, which are known locally as almasty. The expedition is being backed by renowned academic Prof. Bryan Sykes of Oxford University, who hit the headlines a few years ago with his remarkable book The Seven Daughters of Eve which conclusively proved, through analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of a large sampling of people across the continent, that nearly everyone living in Europe today is descended from one of just seven women who lived between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago.

The Foreign Office website warns against travel to several Russian republics including Kabardino-Balkaria "as terrorism and kidnapping in these regions remain a serious problem", but in a statement released today Freeman explains why the expedition will still be going ahead.

"We haven't really got an option", he says. "If we pull out now, a lot of money and even more work will have been wasted. Grigoriy has told us that kidnapping and terrorism have not been an issue in the parts of the country where we are going, and anyway, the path of science MUST continue unhindered, if we are to push back the boundaries of human knowledge. There will be eight or ten of us in the party, if you include Grigoriy's guides, and any band of potential kidnappers would find that they had a fight on their hands".

The expedition will be tracking the almasty and using sophisticated infra-red trigger cameras and ex-military nightsight equipment, but will also be carrying out a campaign of DNA testing amongst the inhabitants of the remote mountainous forests. "According to local folklore the almasty can interbreed with humans" says Jonathan Downes (48), the Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. "Professor Sykes has done some remarkable work with mitochondrial DNA, and if any of the people whom we are testing have any trace of DNA from anything other than a modern human, it will tell us that somewhere in the maternal line, one of his or her ancestors was not a member of the same species as the rest of us."

Although the expedition will not be returning to the UK until mid-July, you needn't wait until then for news from the expedition. Through the wonders of satellite technology the expedition website will be running updates every few days. On the 17th August the team will be presenting their findings to the world as part of the three-day annual convention of the CFZ. Pollyanna Pickering will also be there and, following the interest that her revelations about a putative yeti scalp in Bhutan caused recently, will be taking questions from cryptozoological researchers from around the world.

CFZ Director Jonathan Downes is available for interview. Images are also available. Please telephone Jon or Corinna on +44 (0)1237 431413 for details.

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 (48) 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 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 Exotic Pets, Britain’s only dedicated magazine on the subject.
The CFZ produce their own full-length documentaries through their media division called CFZtv (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 40,000 people.
The CFZ is based in Jon Downes’ old family home in rural North Devon which he shares with his wife Corinna (51). It is also home to various members of the CFZ’s permanent directorate and a collection of exotic animals.
Corinna and Jonathan Downes are shareholders in Tropiquaria – a small zoo in North Somerset (www.tropiquaria.co.uk).
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.
Each year the CFZ presents an annual conference. This year’s event will be held in August, and will feature the first public appearance by the Russian Expedition team.

Following their successful partnership with Capcom www.capcom.com on the 2007 Guyana expedition, the CFZ are looking for more commercial sponsors.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Downes
(Director, CFZ)
[Editor, Animals & Men Magazine]
[Editor, Exotic Pets Magazine]
[Publicity Director, Tropiquaria Zoo]
Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ],
Myrtle Cottage,
Woolfardisworthy,
Bideford,
North Devon
EX39 5QR

Telephone:   +44 (0) 1237 431413

eMail:            jon@eclipse.co.uk

websites:      http://www.cfz.org.uk
                     http://www.cfztv.org
                     http://weirdweekend.org
                     http://www.exoticpetsmagazine.com
                     http://www.tropiquaria.co.uk

yahoogroup:   http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFZ_Volunteers/
music:            http://www.cfz.org.uk/music

January - June 2008

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:26:45 GMT

Here is whats new in the field of New Zealand Cryptozoology:

I was recently contacted, via e-mail regarding a sighting of a possible Waitoreke in Gisbourne during the 1980s. The creature was 1.5 m long and displaying typical sea otter behavior by smashing shells on its chest. The sighting lasted a good 20 minutes with the creature about 10 m away showing total disregard for the witness. This will be one of the very rare North Island sightings of these wonderful creatures. Even more unusual is sighting took place at sea, most Waitoreke sightings are in areas of freshwater.

___________________________________________________

Rex Gilroy recently returned from his New Zealand expedition

with more footprints and evidence of Moa in the Hawkes Bay area. During the expedition to Gilroy's tried to get in touch with me but were unable to as I was unavailable due to a family crisis. I have therefore not viewed any evidence either photographically or otherwise so cannot comment on whether Rex did actually find anything or not. I sincerely hope that if Rex has managed to find definitive proof he will present it to the proper authorities, namely the Department of conservation so a proper thorough search can be undertaken, and if the birds exist, the area can be protected and so can the birds.

Saturday, 5th January 2008

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:16:02 GMT

Hawke's Bay Newspaper today reported that Rex Gilroy is to mount an expedition next month to find the moa and the ranges behind Wairoa.

Mr Gilroy claims to have proof of up to 12 little Bush moa inhabiting a valley in the area. After some investigation I have found out that the Emu in the area and perhaps these have been mistaken for moa.

With all the work carried out in the area, this is a department of conservation training area as well as used for logging and by other environmental groups, if anything have shown up it would have definitely been reported long ago.

It will be interesting to see the results of Mr Gilroy's expedition.

Tuesday, 18th of September 2007

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:13:09 GMT

Tuesday, 18th of September 2007

Apparently Australian Cryptozoologist Rex and Heather Gilroy who run the Australasian Cryptozoological Research Centre are finalising claims for an expedition to New Zealand. This is to take place in November to explore the Fiordland wilderness for traces of possible living Moa.
Gilroy has led expeditions before and hinted at possible traces of living Moa in the Urewera Rangers.

3rd September 2007

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:11:35 GMT

A member of trademe put up the sale supposed pictures of footprints and photographs of a live Moa. Without being able to verify the photographs it is hard to tell whether these are genuine or faked.

The person putting up the photographs was mainly interested in the money for the rights to the photographs, regrettably this often cast suspicion and doubt about the veracity.

The photographs and rights sold for $365.

27th April 2007

Tony — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:10:04 GMT

Preliminary report of large unknown bird seen in the Auckland area,
Follow up investigation in progress.

Progress:
After investigation I have found there were reports of Spoonbills in the Auckland area around the time of the sighting, this is a possibilty for the sighting reported.
However, I am awaiting more information.

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"Elementum Bestia" is now available via the net in PDF format and in black and white or Colour hard cover.
This book is a really good read with contributions from many well known authors, Loren Coleman,Tony Healy, Craig Heinselman and many more....
It has a small section on New Zealand Cryptids.
A very comprehensive work that covers alot on Cryptozoology.

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