At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Monday, 24 February 2014

IT'S A DOG'S LIFE

I have a dog.  Her name is Sashy - we didn't give her that name, we took her from a dog shelter.  She's the third dog I've had and I must admit I've been lucky with them all, in that they've been (generally) well behaved.

 However, a great deal of what goes on about her must be rather puzzling to her (if she's given to speculation).  Moreover, her knowledge of the world she inhabits is very limited.  She has no notion that she lives in a sea-surrounded isle, that there are continents, islands and oceans all around the world, that decisions made by humans thousands of miles away may impact upon her, that those very humans thousands of miles away actually exist and, if any members  of the family go anywhere, she has no idea where they are going or why.  She has no idea of the life any of us has away from home, none concerning people we know who have not visited the home, none concerning our jobs, even though all these things can have an effect upon her own life and sometimes do.  There is an awful lot about the world that my dog does not and cannot know.

 She also does not know the reasons things happen to her.  She may divine that I will not have yet another tug of war with her because I am tired, but she cannot answer such questions as Why do they not give me food whenever I want it?  Why do they take me to that horrible place, the vet's?  Why do they make me have baths?  In short, why do they make me do This when I want to do That?

 You see, she cannot begin to comprehend the reasoning lying behind these decisions.  The world around her is filled with questions which, bearing her state of mental development in mind, she cannot hope to answer.  

 Now, what strikes me is, how many things are going on around us, Homo sapiens, of which we have no inkling, because we have no capacity to apprehend them, yet which may impinge upon our lives at any second or, indeed, be impinging upon them now, all unknown to us, because we have not the resources to know them?

 Well, that's enough profound thought for today.  I have to walk the dog.
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