Jon Downes apologises...well sort of.

Jon Downes has apologised sort of, regarding not acknowledging the hairs found by the WPR or not mentioning that Jonathon McGowan has found leopard hairs before.

Out came the usual excuse, oft used by politicians. "I didn't know", "I forgot", "I didn't realise", "no snub intended" etc etc etc.

But of course he missed the point I was making. Far from the hairs being found and claimed as a first, proving the existance of big cats in the UK, they were neither a first for the CFZ members, nor were they the only ones found and tested at the Weird Weekend. Both the work of Jonathon McGowan and the WPR show this.

It makes you wonder if The Highland Tiger hadn't brought this up, would Jon Downes still be sitting on his throne, beaming from ear to ear, proclaiming to the world "Big Cats Exist and it was the CFZ who proved it".

In reality this was all a publicity stunt that unravelled and quickly backfired, leaving Jon Downes bactracking and apologising as fast as his legs could carry him.

Perhaps when Jon decides in future to stir things with other organisations, he should check he has all the facts in front of him.

Finally just a word of caution to the Wiltshire Phenomena Research Group. By all means collaborate with the CFZ, but do so with your eyes wide open. Many independant groups over the years have worked with the CFZ . Very few, if any, continue to do so today.

It makes you wonder why?

And the plot thickens.............

Well well well !

Now we've all read the CFZ blog about the finding of "leopard" hairs by the CFZ, how it is a first and "it was the CFZ who found them" Well it seems that they weren't the only ones to have had leopard hairs confirmed by Dr Lars Thomas at the Weird Weekend.

Enter the "Wiltshire Phenomena Research" organisation. It seems that they too were at the Weird Weekend, where they showed some hairs they had gathered as part of their research in Longleat Forest. These too were confirmed as leopard hairs by Dr Lars Thomas. I've re-printed their blog article below.

During our trip into Longleat Forest earlier this year some members of the team decided to go off track. When they did so they found a hair on a wire fence and thought it would be a good idea to bag it because “you never know”.

We decided that rather than just assuming this hair was significant in any way (it could have been a dog hair, from a deer, a sheep, anything!) we realised we would need to get it tested and so we kept hold of it.

Cut to just over a month later and a group of the people who were in the forest that day visited the Weird Weekend (hosted by the CFZ) where they met Lars Thomas who happened to be doing a talk on identifying hair.

He kindly had a look at our hair on his microscopic machine to get a closer look at it and concluded (by comparing the hair on the screen to a book of different samples) that it was leopard hair, which is very exciting.

However, us being WPR, we are in the process of getting the hair retested by an independent source so that we can be sure that the first examination wasn’t a fluke, or wasn’t at fault.

It’s not that we don’t trust Lars, we just need to have at least one other opinion before we reach a conclusion about the hair and take further action on the case.

We’ve also recieved numerous eye-witness reports of big cats in the same area so this is a case that is still being worked on. We don’t have a conclusion yet, but we’re very excited about the progress!

I must applaud the actions of the WPR in striving to get as many opinions on the hair sample as possible, and I'm very interested to hear their results in the future. Longleat Forest is an interesting place, situated next to the Wildlife Park, and containing a Centre Parcs resort. It is ideal big cat teritory.

But lets return to the actions of the CFZ in this saga. Now although the CFZ appear to have claimed to be the first people to have proved the existance of big cats in the UK, after all "it was the CFZ who found them", they conveniently forgot to mention that they weren't even the first people at the Weird Weekend to have found leopard hairs.

In their desperation to "get one over" on the BCIB, they didn't even mention that a small group of investigators in Wiltshire had beaten them to it.

Now why do you think that no mention of the Wiltshire Phenomena Research organisation was made in the CFZ blog. I suppose it sort of made the CFZ's "exclusive", not quite as exclusive as they wanted.

Alice could have been talking about the CFZ, when she said "curiouser and curiouser"

Indeed it is.

The CFZ once again awake me from my slumber

The Center for Fortean Zoology on occasions do have some good ideas. Their Weird Weekend held annually in their quaint Devon village is one of them. Bringing together speakers from across the world discussing their own small favourite corners of the cryptozoological world, is a idea that should be praised.

Ok, so this years Weird Weekend was not a patch on previous years. With numerous booked speakers excusing themselves from attending one after another, (causing the CFZ directorate to hastily fill in the gaps with appearances by themelves), and delegate numbers much lower than was expected.

But they still managed to turn it around for the cameras. Oh didn't I say. A camera team from Denmark was there to film proceedings.

Now apart from one of the delegates seeing a UFO on his way home fom the conference. "UFO seen at Weird Weekend" the big media savvy story was that the CFZ had found big cat hairs, prooving that big cats exist in the UK, and they were the first organisation to do so. "THERE ARE INDEED BIG CATS IN BRITAIN (BUT IT WAS THE CFZ WHO FOUND THEM)"

Now, as my name suggests, I do have a passing interest in the mysterious big cats of the UK. Athough not a member of any organisation, I do take an interest in the research done by all the main groups, "British Big Cat Society", "Big Cats In Britain", "The CFZ" as well as the smaller independant researchers, such as Frank Tunbridge and Danny Nineham amongst others.

Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that there is certainly some animosity between some of these organisations, but only one stands out as having a huge chip on their shoulders. I can find very little in print from the BBCS, BCIB and the independants belittling the work of each other's organisations. In fact I rarely find any of these groups actually commenting anything about each other in the media. It's as though they may not agree with how they go about things, or how things are percieved in the press, but it's very much live and let live, each to their own etc.

You will of course have noted that there is one exception, our good old friends the CFZ. They just can't help themselves having a little dig at the "opposition"

First, just have a look at the title of their first post on their blog. "There are indeed BIG CATS IN BRITAIN, (But it was the CFZ who found them)

Now I can't be the only one who thinks that this is a very childish headline. Using the name of a big cat organisation that Mr Downes has obvious animosity towards, and then intimating that the CFZ got the proof before them reminds me of a playground taunt. You know the type.

"Nah nah, we found them before you, nah nah nah nah nah nah"

Is this what you'd expect from a professional research organisation, of course not. Do we expect it from the CFZ, well you can make your own minds up on that one.

But lets get to "evidence" they have found. I'll let the CFZ explain the details. This is from their blog.

On Friday morning, in front of a number of witnesses and a Danish TV crew, Lars Thomas - a Danish scientist with a high reputation - analysed a number of black hairs on brambles and thorns at Huddisford Woods. Some of these hairs were found by him, and some by Andrew Perry, Nadia Novali and their friends.

The CFZ have been actively studying the big cat reports from this area since 2005, and for the last 18 months have been making a feature-length film there.

Max and I drove the team to Huddisford Woods on Friday and showed them three of the places that the big cats have been seen. We did not tell them specifically where to look and the Danish TV crew will, I am sure, corroborate this.

After microscopic analysis, and comparison with known leopard hairs, Lars identified the hairs found in the woods as being from a leopard. The analysis was carried out in front of representatives of the CFZ (including president Colonel John Blashford-Snell), and was filmed both by CFZtv and the aforementioned Danish TV crew.

The video of the examination will be released as soon as we have time to digitise it (probably in a few days). Conspiracy theorists will no doubt claim that we will use this time to somehow doctor the results. This is just not true: the examination was filmed on our Sony PD150 and we have to digitise the DV Tapes which has to be done in real time, and we just have not had the time to do it.

Lars Thomas is not just an old friend of the CFZ, but he has been a core member since 1994. Several other people in the party that found the hairs are also CFZ members. The CFZ have therefore proved that there are big cats living wild in this country. However, in view of recent events we would like these findings corroborated. We have 25-30 of these hairs, and will make them available to anyone who has the resources and expertise to test them, including - if they wish to participate - the Big Cats in Britain research group, who have made no secret of their animosity towards us.

There are two provisos:

1. That the results (including any reports, films or photographs) are immediately put into the public domain
2. That the hairs are returned intact to the CFZ

OK guys it is up to you.

Now all if this looks to be great news and a great find, but again is it me? Instead of dealing with this find in a professional manner, they still find time to mention another big cat organisation. Why? What is the point? Yet again it appears to be another childish taunt, that was neither needed nor expected in this sort of release of information

Why are the CFZ worried what the Big Cats in Britain group say or do. I've yet to find anything in print from the BCIB even mentioning the CFZ in recent years.

Yet here we are, the CFZ boasting they've found evidence, at great pains to ensure that everyone knows that it was CFZ members who found these hairs. Does it really matter who found these hairs. What matters is not the CFZ asking other organisations to do dna sampling for them, but for them to get independent laboratories, (ones without CFZ allegencies),organised and the testing done post haste.

Is this not the remit of the CFZ. Perhaps they are short of funds and cannot afford to do these tests. Perhaps they should ask their donors to stop giving them cash to fix their roof or buying them another pet fish, but to put money towards proper research. Did the Weird Weekend not make any money, are the Danish TV crew not going to help financially.

Strange very strange.

Now you'd be forgiven, reading the claims of the CFZ, that finding hairs is a first, and finding them to be big cat hairs is also a first. Unsurprisingly it's not.

I believe leopard hairs were confirmed by a laboratory in a case several years ago of a big cat trapped in a caravan. I'm also aware of the work a Dorest big cat researcher Jonathon McGowan, who using the same techniques as Dr Lars Thomas, to identify big cat hairs he has found over many years. In fact Mr McGowan presented his findings at a Big Cat Conference a few years ago, where, guess who was in attendance, yes of course our old friend Mr Jonathon Downes. And to top it off, Mr McGowan also presented his findings at another event attended by Mr Downes. And what was that event you may ask? Well surprise surprise it was at a previous years, Weird Weekend, hosted by Mr Downes hinself.

Now you may ask the question, if hairs have been found in the past, and have been presented as evidence at one of Mr Downes Weird Weekend's. Why all the hoohah now? Why all this rigmarole and chest beating? Why all this shouting from the rooftops.

Nothing to do with having a documentry film crew on site, IS IT, Mr Downes?

Post Script

Well Mr Downes has read this blog post, and decided to attack both myself and Mr Mark Fraser, by the use of selective passages from both this blog post and Mr Frasers comments on his own blog. I urge all readers to read both the CFZ blog and the Big Cats in Britain Blog, to see through the ramblings of an obviously confused man.

This is a sad day in the demise of the CFZ. Rather than concentrate on their findings, they seem obsessed in petty point scoring.

Just one question for the deluded bearded one. When was the last time any Big Cat organisation, when releasing important evidence to media, felt the need to even mention the CFZ.

To all "supporters" of the CFZ. Think twice before handing any money over to these people. You only have to look at their leaders actions today to see how low they can stoop.

CFZ Members being taken to task

Ok, so this is another mention of the CFZ, I was going to keep away from commenting on them for a while to see how they reacted to my comments. But it seems in my hiatus, that someone else has taken up the mantle of pointing out their errors.

Anyone who follows their blog, know they get few comments posted, and the ones that do are a select bunch of obsessive believers in the down right daft. Two of them are quite amusing at times. There is Neil Arnold, (he of the hundreds of leopards in the south of England, but not one shred of evidence, and also ghost hunting fame).

And there is Tabitca (the cranky old woman, who threatens to sue people, oh and she's got a friend, who is a judge, so we should be a little scared should we not).

Well there seems to be a new poster, who not only knows their cryptostuff, but is quite happy to take these people to task when he feels they are talking out of their proverbial rear end.

Enter Aaron The Negative into the fray. Now this person has made several comments on several posts, but the one on the Loch Ness Monster caught my eye.

The article can be found at http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010/06/michael-newton-nessie-rip.html

and his excellent scientific reply is repeated below. Well said Aaron The Negative "whoever" you are.

(A note to certain CFZ members, sometimes, when doing research it helps to use scientific methods when analysing witness reports. Don't automatically believe everything you are told as being a genuine accurate report. By doing this you won't look so amateurish, when presenting your findings. Just because you write about a topic doesn't make you an "expert")

Aaron T said...
Neil A wrote "Last week I spoke to an elderly couple who stated categorically they'd seen Nessie in 2009. they were on holiday and were driving near the loch when they saw a wake and a large shadow moving below the surface of the water. They stated it wasn't a fish as the creature was too large and made a very powerful wake."

Perhaps it is unfair to require a Fortean zoologist to restrict himself to arguments based on scientific principles, but as this is on a "cryptozoology" blog where at least a pretence of scientific rigour can be hoped for here are my objections.
1. No-one driving along any road around Loch Ness can see anything under the water at all, because in order to do so they need to be looking down onto the water surface at an angle of 50 degrees or more from the horizontal. Physics says No. All they will see, at best, is a reflection of things at a similar angle above the far shore line.
2.Furthermore, the object "seen" cannot have been a "shadow moving below the surface" as shadows are cast by opaque objects placed between a light source and the illuminated "surface" ( or "volume" in the case of the Grey Man of Ben MacD). If they could see a shadow, they would also have seen the object casting it.
3. The "creature" they didn't see "was too large". :-) Yup, OK.
4. Practically all the large wakes on Loch Ness are caused by boats, and orphaned wakes left by boats that have changed course and are out of sight are common. An excellent place to "spot a hump", for Tabitca's information, is the Clansman Hotel where the powerful Jacobite passenger boat fleet is based.
ATN

9:27 AM

Centre for Fortean Zoology - The Good, The Bad and The (well you can finish the rest yourself ! )

It seems that my "interest" into the affairs of this little group of individuals, has seen a change in the way they conduct their affairs.

They have removed several boastful but totally untrue claims from their website, and they are now telling everyone exactly what they are spending their donations on. Something that was rarely done before yours truly started asking questions.

Ok, so we don't know if they are telling us about all their donations, (and there are still questions to ask about many of the CFZ members, that regularly appear on their Web TV show, how they are financing their lifestyles without apparantly having "proper" jobs and claiming benefits). But at least it's a start. So hats off to them for this.

So that's the "Good".

So what about the "Bad". Well we have to return to an old favourite of mine, the CFZ's "zoological" Director, Richard Freeman. This unqualified "zoologist" couldn't resist throwing a little mud at other researchers in this letter in the Fortean Times (FT263:70 June 2010). Reproduced below in full, and with my comments in red.

Sea Serpents.

Thanks to Mark Greener for a cracking article on sea
serpents (FT260:32-38). I think the drop off in sightings in the past century or
sdo can be attributed to how we travel now. mainly by air or in large noisy
boats. Sea serpents are still reported regularly along the pacific coast of
Canada and the USA.

Just a small point here. There are actually more ships on the high seas today than at any time in the past, and I doubt noise of these ships have anything to do with sightings. After all, dolphins will often ride the bow wave of these ships, and whales certainly don't hide from ships as these whale watching companies can attest to. I think it is more likely that a drop in seas serpent sightings is due to more knowledge about the creatures of the sea, and better viewing equipment, such as high powered binoculars.

What a shame I can't be equally enthusiastic about "The Random Directory of the
Damned" entry on Monsters of the Lakes (FT260:50-53), which fawns over Michael
Meurger's god-awful book "Lake Monster Traditions" (Fortean Tomes, 1988). This
is one of the worst books I've ever read, (and that's up against some stiff
competition!). Apart from Patrick Harpur's "Daimonic Reality" (Viking Arcana
1994). it is the only book I have had to actively force myself to finish
reading.

A few weeks ago we have CFZ member Neil Arnold dismissing Merrily Harpur's theories, and now another CFZ member is dissing her brother Patrick Harpur's book. Does the CFZ have a grudge against the Harpur's. I find it strange that an organisation that praises the unintelligable and off the wall work of the late John Michell, the work of known hoaxer Doc Shiels, and promotes books of their beliefs of the existance of the Owl Man (Jon Downes) and the existance of Dragons (Richard Freeman), feels the need to dismiss openly other authors with similar strange theories - but each to their own I suppose.

Meurger insults not only the witnesses and researchers but of native people. I
know quite a few native people from around the world and I can tell you that
most of them are no more superstitious than the average Westerner and no more
likely to mentally morph a log into a monster.

When I first read this, my immediate thought was of someone, when being accused of being a racist, says that he can't be a racist because he has a black friend. I'm not accusing Richard Freman of being racist of course , but it has the same feel. But just because Richard knows some people who are not superstitious doesn't mean that every witness isn't superstitious. In fact considering most of the world believes in a supernatural god or gods, I would say there are more superstitious people in the world than non. A quick look at the online newspapers of African countries and certain Asian countries, you will find many stories of people being accused of being witches and evil spirits. In fact looking in the Fortean Times, only a few pages on from Richard's letter is an article about just such superstitions in Papua New Guinea.

Meurger is no zoologist either. One of the pillars his
book is built on is that lake monsters cannot be real because there are so many
different-looking creatures in the same lake - log like, serpentine, humped,
horse-headed and so on. However even known animals can present very different
outlines and appearances depending on how they are viewed and the viewing
condistions. This is particularly true when most of the creature is under
water.

Now this made me laugh. Richard Freeman a man who loves to parade his self imposed title of Zoological director, (as can be seen at the end of the letter), whilst having no formal zoological qualifications, complaing about someone not having any zoological qualifications. Pot, Kettle and black are words that spring to mind .

There have been reports of huge serpentine animals in lakes as long as there has
been recorded history and some cave paintings suggest that these encounters have
been going on long before the time of Sumner and Babylon.

Now we are touching on the creationist turf, but I've always wondered why certain animals are picked to be real depictions, and yet creatures like the Sphynx and Griffen etc are deemed mytholgical. It seems that people are willing to pick and choose which evidence they need to bolster their theories.

Incidently, there are monster sightings in Windermere, stretching back to the
1950's. The CFZ has investigated and interviewed a number of witnesses and
concluded the creatures are most likely gigantic eels. (see FT220:36-38)

As I've mentioned before, the CFZ expeditions have all come up with zero evidence for the creatures they were searching for, and this is no exception. To come up with such a theory based solely on verbal evidence is flimsy at best.

Richard Freeman
Zoological Director
Centre For Fortean Zoology
Whipton, Exeter.

Yep he does love his title doesn't he!

So we've had the Good and the Bad, and I could make a joke about Oil paintings in the CFZ, but I won't. Instead I'll send my best wishes onto Jon Downes wife Corrinna. I've heard on the crypto bush telegraph, that she has not been very well the last few months, and although I have issues with certain parts of the CFZ's output, I have no animosity towards the majority of its members. I hope she feels better soon.

Is this Bigfoot in Kentucky?

As I have mentioned before, one of the bonuses of doing the survey was getting in contact with groups that I would never have done so otherwise.

One such group is The BigFoot Research Project Kentucky , consisting of just three guys, Chris Bennett, Brandon Lang and John Gray.

Chris contacted me a few days ago to show me an image he took, that he claims is of a bigfoot. Below is the image, along with the email he sent me. The email is unedited and reproduced in full.

More pics and details can be found HERE

Hi This is Chris Bennett over at the BFRPKY.com I thought I'd give you a heads up on the new KY pic being released today. Feel free to use this pic on your nonprofit website. (please remember to list credit for the pic) This is a sample of upcoming releases of information from my current research ongoing in KY. Videos will be out soon as well.

The info being released is from an ongoing study of a small group of creatures in KY. I can't release all the details at this time but I can tell you that this pic is a crop from a larger pic made 03-06-10 by myself while investigating a possible home range territory at an undisclosed location in KY. The pic was captured "by chance" with no real expectations of capturing anything on film that day. The larger 8.1 MP pic shows other "subjects" and is too much to release at this time. Most of the other "subjects" in the larger pic were hiding behind brush anyway so positive identification of them would be ambiguous to the average viewer with no previous knowledge of the area surroundings. This crop shows the only subject "out in plain site". The subject appears to me to be female, however the sex cannot be determined 100% in whole by the pic only so it will probably remain a debate to viewers. I can judge who's female and who's male because I get to see the creatures up very close at times and they have very different "features" between the male and female. My thoughts about this one being a female come from the shape of the head,face and oh yeas, the breasts.
There will also be at least 3 videos upcoming for release to the public. Videos are currently under review by Scientific professionals with an interest in Bigfoot/Sasquatch. The videos will show multiple creatures, a family group, many different sizes and colors. Release date will be decided after all reviews of the material are complete. More than likely, the info of what will be released will be announced in the near future on an upcoming internet radio show "The Squatchdetective" Steve Kull's show as he is also investigating and verifying the info we collect in the field for release.
I send you this info based on your just and honest report of Bigfoot groups. Too many are "for profit" and not "for finding" I'm doing alot of work with these creatures in Ky and completely self financed. It makes me sad to think the guys with all the funding are doing nothing but to continue to look without finding. Because as long as they look, they get paid

Best, Chris Bennett BFRPKY.com

Now I can see what is coming, no doubt there will be comments such as "it's blobsquatch", "I can't see a thing", "its a tree", "it's a man in a ghillie suit" etc etc. And I'll agree, I can't see anything there that shouts bigfoot at me. Although it's certainly enough to pique my interest and wanting to see the other pictures and footage they have.

But that is NOT the point here. It's the circumstances behind this story that interests me. This is a tiny group, of a couple of guys, who recieve no funding from anyone, everything they do comes out of their own pocket. They have a very simple website where they post what they have. Hell, they even have a page that tells you what photographic gear they carry. They don't have a book to sell, they don't plead poverty asking for donations or the group will fold. All they want to do is get out in the field and track these creatures down. To them it's a hobby. A very serious one to them, but a hobby no less. And that's the beauty of this whole case.

We need more people like them, people who are not here to rip others off, people who are prepared to take pictures, no matter how good or poor they are and post them online. People who are prepared to stand by their evidence, and accept the praise or negative comments in equal measures.

I for one, will be keeping an eye on the work of these guys. I'm not 100% believer in bigfoot, I've still to see any evidence that will convert me to being one. But if it does come, I hope it's discovered by groups like these. People with no ulterior motive, other than being the first to crack the case.

Good luck to the BFRPKY, I hope you find what you are looking for


Stop Press - Chris has kindly sent me the full high resolution image, where I have been able to pull this higher quality image crop.

The pettiness of Jon Downes at the CFZ leaves me with no option

It's common knowledge that I am banned by the CFZ from posting any comments on any site they own. (and Jon threatened to ban me from sites he didn't own as well, not sure how he was going to achieve that but there you go ).

I know, I was a bad boy for asking too many questions they didn't really want to answer. But no matter, I created this blog so I could still put over my views.

Well the CFZ's bestest ever British big cat researcher, Mr Arnold penned another article all because of yours truly. An article full of errors I may add.



But as usual I'll post it here and reply in, lets go for a different colour this time, lets try yellow


BIG CATS IN THE UK - YOUR OPINION PLEASE` by Neil Arnold

Recently I wrote a post regarding my opinion’s on as to why large, exotic felids roam the wilds of the UK. This seemed to irk a few in the ‘big cat’ community, as it always seems to do.

So I'm now classed as a few eh? I know I've put on a little weight recently, but I'm still not twice the size I was

I’ve always thought that a rather down to earth explanation could solve the riddle as to why black leopard, puma and lynx inhabit the woods of Britain. For me, it always pointed, certainly in more recent times, to the introduction of the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act, where many cat owner’s decided to dump their novelty pets in the woods.

One slight problem, there was not a rise in sightings, as one would expect, around 1976. It was no different than any other year. Unless of course you have any proof of these "many cat owners" releasing cats

Reports dating centuries previous could well be explained by escapees/releases from circuses, private zoo’s and travelling menageries. All the evidence points to this when you consider report’s in the press, menagerists’ and their incident’s, and some owner’s admitting they’d released animals.

I agree with you, no difference in opinion here

Now, after stating this I was accused by the hilariously named ‘The Highland Tiger’, of being ‘outlandish’, and full of ‘hot air’, with no evidence to back this up, or the claims that I’d ever seen or filmed a large cat in the wilds.

I'll ignore the "hilarious" jibe, and get straight to the point. Yes I did ask you to provide proof of your outlandish claims of 100's of big cats released. Yes I did ask you to provide proof of the films you claimed to have taken.

Was that wrong to do so, If you make a claim are we not allowed to see your proof. If you have the proof, if you have the footage, why not share it.

Usually, any posts I decide to write always provoke a petty response from those cowardly folk who are unable to come out from their façade, but tragically, it has always proved me right that the ‘big cat’ community is unfortunately littered with people who



a) are completely deluded by thinking these animals have some more esoteric, or even prehistoric explanation,

So, we get to the nitty gritty here. Neil Arnold thinks that Merrily Harpur and Di Francis, the two main writers on the theories he mentions are deluded. Some may say, no more deluded than someone who thinks 100's of big cats were released 40 or 50 years ago and are breeding all over the country. But then that's my opinion of course.

b) are simply out to stir the s**t,

No stirring, just trying to get proof of your claims


c) seem to gave no valid theories to put forward themselves,

Errrr, I did. I believe its likely to be a mixture of a number of current theories.

d) have never seen a large cat in the wilds because they are too busy stuck behind a PC all day.

I've already said I've seen a big cat, and I'm probably out walking in the hills more times in a week than Mr Arnold does in a year. After all, all those lectures at the WI can't leave much time for field research.

I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion to maybe put this boring, tiresome debacle to bed.

Thanks to Jon Downes and his petty ban, that should read, everyone's opinion apart from the person who this article is aimed at.


I’ve always written about monsters, but in regards to the ‘big cat’ situation I’ve sought no reason to create any kind of mystery when there isn’t one to create. It’s clear that myself and the CFZ has opposition out there, and that’s always going to happen, but clearly, this debate will rage forever, because there clearly are a lot of sad, anorak’s out there with nothing better to.

So everyone who doesn't agree with Mr Arnold, is a sad anorak. Say's it all really. Now what is that saying about stones and glass houses

I’d simply like to know, where do you think ‘big cats’ came from, and if you’ve seen one please do reply.


Many thanks,

Neil Arnold


I think that's enough replying today




There is a postscript to this, Chris Clark of the CFZ, made a comment I would like to reply to.


Chris Clark said...
Yes, last September when some of us on the CFZ expedition saw orang pendek in Sumatra the same person (or at least the same pseudonym) went to a lot of trouble to rubbish us on Cryptomundo.


Not quite true my friend, (Do all CFZ members have a selective memory, is it mandatory?) I, like MANY MANY others on Cryptomundo, just posed the question, WHY were no pictures taken. The sighting, after all, was relatively long. The only other point made, was the release of pictures of "footprints" to The Sun newspaper without the knowledge of the expedition leader Adam Davies, (something he confirmed himself to Loren Coleman at cryptomundo). The Sun article, whilst mentioning the CFZ, strangely did not mention Davies, who actually did the organising of the expedition.

Should not these points be discussed, or are we not allowed to comment on any CFZ expeditions and the results they come back with.



And just a little comment for Tabitca, who appears to be desperate for me to say something bad about her so she can sue me for libel. Sorry love, but it'll never happen. You're just not that important.

:o)