Short Takes Short Takes (August 25, 2004)

How d'you like them apples?

Someone with a sense of humor uses Wunderlich County Park in Woodside, says Kate Daly. In the middle of a trail, hikers recently spotted a pile of fresh horse manure sporting half a dozen of those day-glow orange stickers used to tag ripe fruit.

In this case, the hikers noted with a laugh that the road apples were indeed ripe, and, thanks to the little signs, very easy to avoid.

Oh, give me a home

One of the icons of America's Wild West, native bison still roam the range freely in Yellowstone National Park, but all is not bucolic with the buffalo.

A group of advocates bent on preserving one of the nation's last wild buffalo herds, the Buffalo Field Campaign, is presenting an informational show about the buffalo from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, August 29, in Independence Hall, 2955 Woodside Road, Woodside. Admission is free.

Yellowstone buffalo that stray into the portion of the park that is located in Montana (most of the park is in Wyoming) are subject to the state's "zero tolerance" policy for buffalo, according to Mike Mease, the Buffalo Field Campaign coordinator.

Montana officials have killed more than 3,500 buffalo since 1985, saying it's to keep cattle from becoming infected with the disease brucellosis, he said.

Members of the campaign are working to protect the herd under the Endangered Species Act, as they are among the few bison that haven't mingled genes with cattle over the years, and that still occupy their native range.

The event in Woodside will feature video footage taken this winter, as well as a discussion with campaign volunteers. It's sponsored by In Defense of Animals, a Mill Valley-based animal rights organization. More information about the buffalo project is at BuffaloFieldCampaign.org.

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