Corinna Newton Downes

Infobox Paranormalpeople1|

Class = Cryptozoologist
Image_Caption = Corinna Downes with Kellas Cat, March 2007
Name = Corinna Newton Downes
Born = 1956
Blocation = Uxbridge, England
Died =
Dlocation =
Phd =
Djob = Author
Journalist
Administrator
Novelist
Conservationist
Pjob = Cryptozoologist
Affiliates = Centre for Fortean Zoology
Tropiquaria|

Corinna Newton Downes (born Uxbridge, England, in 1956) is a novelist, author, zoological journalist, zoo owner, conservationist, and administrator. She is currently Administrative Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and is married to CFZ Director Jonathan Downes.Fact|date=February 2008

She was born Corinna Newton James in 1956, and married first husband Peter McCarthy in 1984. They have two daughters, Shoshannah (b. 1985), and Olivia (b.1987). They divorced in 1999.Fact|date=February 2008

After several years voluntary work with the CFZ she was confirmed as Administrative Director in April 2006. [ Jon Downes' blog http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/] [cfz website www.cfz.org.uk] She has also appeared in several of the CFZ films [ www.cfztv.org] including Eel or No Eel (2006). [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk656VyO1vA YouTube - Eel or no Eel? ] ]

She is an associate editor of the CFZ Journal Animals & Men and sub editor of the magazine Exotic Pets [ www.exoticpetsmagazine.co.uk] She has a blog [ [http://cryptochick.blogspot.com/ Female of the Species ] ] and is particularly interested in horned frogs and budgett's frogs.Fact|date=February 2008

Zoo and Conservation work

She is one of the three partners who run Tropiquaria - a small, privately owned zoo at Watchett, near Minehead, North Somerset. [ www.ukattraction.com/west-country/tropiquaria.htm ]

It is based around a Grade 2 listed building, namely a 1930s BBC broadcasting station of historic interest. [ [http://www.dayorama.com/archives/000938.html Dayorama: Tropiquaria ] ] . [ www.wirelessmuseum.org.uk/] [ [http://www.mlasouthwest.org.uk/index.php?ID=360&UID=1978&GO=2 MLA South West [360 ] ] The main building has been converted into a tropical hall for reptiles and birds.

The zoo was founded in the late 1980s, but Corinna Downes, together with Chris Moiser and Jane Bassett, took over the management of the park in August 2007. [ www.tropiquaria.co.uk/news.htm] . The team intends to change the emphasis of the animal collection towards endangered species from Sub-Saharan Africa. [ [http://wspostnews.blogspot.com/2008/01/royal-resident-is-settling-in-at.html West Somerset Post: 'Royal' resident is settling in at Tropiquaria ] ]

They achieved the following breeding successes of endangered species in 2007:

Pancake tortoises
Jamaican boas
Northern Helmeted Curassow. [ Exotic Pets #2, Oct. 2007] [www.tropiquaria.co.uk]

The zoo is a member of BIAZA.Fact|date=February 2008

Books

She has written or edited the following books:

"Ethna's Journal" (CFZ Press, Bideford, 2007)
"CFZ Yearbook 2008" (CFZ Press, Bideford, 2008)

"Ethna's Journal" is a historical novel which tells the story of a few months in an alternate Dark Ages, seen through the eyes of Ethna, daughter of Lord Edric. She is an unsophisticated girl from the fortress town of Cragnuth, somewhere in the north of England, who reluctantly gets embroiled in a web of treachery, sorcery and conflict.Fact|date=February 2008

With the "CFZ Yearbook 2008", however, she has taken over from Richard Freeman the task of co-editing the publication.Fact|date=February 2008

References