FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Have you seen the big cat?

Over the last couple of years, residents of the tiny North Devon village of Woolsery have reported seeing a huge cat-like animal, black in colour, and up to 8 foot in length, in the area surrounding Huddisford Woods, just outside the village.  Now, scientists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology – the world’s largest mystery animal research group – which is, coincidentally, based in an early 19^th Century house in the village, are appealing for witnesses in the hope that they can build up a data base of information which will give them clues as to the identity of the mysterious beast.

Professor Bernard Heuvelmens, the Belgian scientist who first coined the term cryptozoologist – the study of unknown animals, once wrote that “there are lost worlds everywhere”.  However, CFZ Director, Jonathan Downes (47), admits that after travelling around the world for the last 15 years in search of peculiar creatures, it is ironic that he should be carrying out a full-scale investigation on his own doorstep. 

But it is not just big cats which are attracting monster hunters to Woolsery. Only three weeks after the wedding, the couple are hosting the 8^th annual Weird Weekend – the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world.  On the weekend of the 17^th – 19^th August, cryptozoologists from all over the world will converge upon the tiny North Devon village of Woolfardisworthy, where the newly weds live and work.

Amongst this year’s influx is Grigoriy Panchenko, a scientist from the Ukraine who will be presenting evidence for the continued existence of primitive hominids in the former Soviet Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria

If you have any information that could help the CFZ on their quest, or are interested in finding more out about the Weird Weekend, please telephone Jon or his wife, Corinna, on 01237 431413.