BRITISH SCIENTISTS IN SEARCH FOR THE INDONESIAN 'YETI'
A group of British explorers and scientists from the Devon based Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ), the world's largest mystery animal research organisation, are about to embark on an expedition in search of a yeti-like creature in Indonesia. The four-man team will search the jungles of Sumatra for what locals call the 'orang-pendek'. The powerfully built, upright-walking beast may be related to both the orang-utan and the much larger yeti of mainland Asia. In the same island chain remains of the tiny hominid known as Homo floresiensis were unearthed in 2003.

The Kubu people - an ancient race who were the first inhabitants of Sumatra - will aid the team. The tribe and their chief have seen the creature in their poorly explored jungle homelands.

Westerners have sighted the orang-pendek too, including Englishwoman Debbie Martyr, now head of the Indonesian tiger conservation group, and wildlife photographer Jeremy Holden.

Also reported in the same jungles are huge horned snakes said to be ten metres long, and a savage, golden cat with a stubby tail and large canine fangs.

The expedition's zoologist, Richard Freeman, Zoological Director of the CFZ, says…

"The orang-pendek is especially interesting as it is an ape that walks upright rather than on all fours. It may show us how our own ancestors first began bipedal locomotion.

The cigau may be a surviving form of Homotherium or scimitar cat, which is a beast related to the better known sabre-toothed cats. Fossils of this animal have been found in Indonesia that are only 10,000 years old. In evolutionary or geological terms that is yesterday.

The giant snakes, known as 'nagas' by the Kubu, may be a new species. There are horned snakes such as the rhinoceros viper and the horned viper, but these are small. The nagas of the Kubu are said to be ten metres long! The 'horns' are probably modified scales.

New species are turning up in Indonesia all the time; it is the real life lost world."

Team leader Adam Davis, together with Dr Chris Clark and Dave Archer, will join Mr Freeman.

You can follow the group's adventures on line at the CFZ website on www.cfz.org.uk

An article appeared on Ninemsn on 15th July with the misleading title "No solid evidence of Lithgow panther":

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8378...

It gave some sketchy details of a NSW government report produced by the the Department of Primary Industries says which although concluded that there's no conclusive evidence of a large black cat prowling Sydney's western outskirts, recommended that evidence of any future sightings should still be collected.

The Department have helpfully provided the following identification fact sheet and unidentified animal reporting form to aid the public:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pe...

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/?a...

The report also suggests a whole-of-government taskforce be formed should any compelling evidence emerge.

However, the article claims the release of three pages of findings has been "watered down".

A 24-page report is said to recommend the government erect warning signs about the potential existence of the animals, or conduct education sessions at local schools.

You can decide for yourself here:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pe...

Curiously, although the story broke just a few days ago, the report itself is dated 26 Mar 2009 ...

Renewed state government interest in the possible existence of the cat was sparked last year when the unpopular NSW Premier Nathan Rees said he no longer believed the reports were an urban myth.

The creatures are said to roam from Penrith to the Hawkesbury region in Sydney's northwest, along the Nepean River and across the Blue Mountains to Lithgow.

Ironically, this supposed territory coincides with that of the local NRL football club called the Penrith Panthers - a title by which the ABC is also known.

Mr Rees was refusing to talk about the panther's existence following the report's release on Wednesday. It is not known if the Premier is a Penrith Panthers fan ...

Researchers cloned a German shepherd search-and-rescue dog which pulled the last 9/11 survivor from the WTC rubble. Four cloned puppies — Trustt, Solace, Valor, Prodigy and Deja Vu — will be trained as search-and-rescue dogs if they have the same abilities.

The puppies' father, Trakr, suffered the same neurological symptoms as human 9/11 rescue workers, and was partially paralyzed for the last two years of his life. "Seeing and having his legacy live on in these puppies is a tremendous gift," says the dog's owner, a former Canadian police officer who'd won the "Golden Clone Giveaway" contest by BioArts International.

But the U.S. Humane Society still opposes scientists who clone pets, calling them "hucksters who have been involved in questionable activities..."

Ancient rock art depicting the extinct marsupial lion has been found in the Kimberly region of Western Australia, says a study in the journal Antiquity.

The first convincing example of a marsupial lion found in rock art to date, the find suggests that early Australians and marsupial lions co-existed.

It also hints at what marsupial lions may have looked like. Painted in red ochre, the image depicts a large four-legged animal, with a strong, prominent front limb poised for action, protruding claws and stripes running the length of its back:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/2775/...

I'm a fan of the webcomic - which all Mythos fans and Edwardian forteans should check out - but the author occasionally posts about aspects of popular culture of Lovecraft's day and of the things that influenced the Old One himself. This is a great collection of Jack memorabilia:

http://lovecraftismissing.com/?p=701

A jaguar collared near Tucson last month was recaptured today and sent to the Phoenix zoo for medical treatment, officials said. It was put down late today, officials say.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate...

If you are interested in Cryptozoology as much as I am, then you are probably aware of the high controversy surrounding the claims of two Georgia fellows—Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer—that they have found the body of a Bigfoot (by accident, apparently). These claims made over their Bigfoottracker.com website aswell as several Youtube videos, have sparked a heated debate on the crypto cyber-communities. Could this be really what some of them have waited all their life? The indisputable scientific proof that would finally make Mainstream Science accept the existence of large bipedal hominoids in North America?

Since the beginning several aspects of this story seemed rather fishy —at least to me— like the fact that these gentlemen were claiming to have possession of what could very easily be the most astonishing biological finding of the Century, if not the Millenium; and yet they were at first very focused on promoting their US$500 trips to search for a live specimen, aswell as selling T-Shirts with the logo of their organization; if you had Bigfoot stuck on your fridge which could arguably be sold for millions of dollars to some institution or news channel, would you be so worried about selling T-shirts?

Their preference for using the 'Knight Rider' soundtrack on their videos didn't exactly help to give them an appearance of seriousness and respectability either... Nor was the clip in which Rick's brother appeared claiming to be a "Dr. Paul Van Buren" coming to examine the body. Many people were convinced that this was nothing but a big hoax or a prank, although a highly risky one given the fact that Whitton is a police officer, and could easily lose his job on account of fraud or improper conduct. ... Read More »

Loren Coleman, renowned cryptozoologist and a contributor to Darklore Vol. 1 (Amazon US, & UK), aswell as the upcoming Darklore Vol. 2, finds himself in a rather unpleasant situation. In his latest post at Cryptomundo, he describes the long and stressful legal battle he has fought with the IRS during the last year; how he had to convince them that Cryptozoology is a serious career and not a curious pasttime, and why the International Cryptozoology Museum that he founded and administers is an integral part of his research.

Alas, this whole situation has proven to be taxing (no pun intended) to say the least, since Loren had to hire lawyers and accountants to organize his defense and help him understand the intricacies of the law —something I'm sure may shock most of you, since fiscal legalisms are SO clear and intuitive!

The thing is this: To the IRS and their rules, the museum is currently nothing but a hobby; in the past Loren had a policy of not charging regular visitors but ask for donations instead, and to let film companies access for a fee—with his combined income from book sales and lectures Loren was able to keep his long-term plans of moving the location of the museum to a bigger premise in 10 years or so— But now in order for the government to acknowledge the museum's rightful function and purpose, the museum needs to make more money, or it ceases to exist.

"Realistically, for the museum to continue alone, I have set a goal of $15,000 to raise for the museum in the next three months, to keep the International Cryptozoology Museum alive and deal with finding and moving into new space. I need to find a location that is affordable, which gets good people traffic. In the future, in a new location, the museum will charge a bit and be set up to sell many kinds of cryptozoology books (beyond my own) and cz objects."

If you wish to help, you can send contributions to Loren via his Paypal account (lcoleman@maine.rr.com). If you are planning to visit Maine in the near future, you could also contact Loren & make a reservation to visit his museum —something I personally wish to fulfill someday— and if you would like to hire the services of an internationally famous cryptozoologist to give a lecture at your school, college or community center, you need to look no further.

Oh! and you should also keep in mind that all the contributors of Darklore receive direct revenues from the book sales... I'm just saying, why not kill two birds with a single stone? ;-)

RPJ

Date: September 16, 2007

Location: Northwest Pennsylvania

Camera: Bushell trail camera (automatic) with infrared (invisible) flash. Camera placed by R. Jacobs.

Time of images: See time stamps on images - click icons above for larger versions.

Figures in images: Bear cubs in first image; Possible young sasquatch in two subsequent images.

Bait used: Strong aromatic deer attractant mix and a mineral lick block.

http://bfro.net/avevid/jacobs/jacobs_pho...

An interview with Ken Gerhard, author of the book "Big Birds: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters" is now freely available on Episode 74 of Mysterious Universe.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=1389