Instead of promoting the Coachella Review's fiction contest winner (Erika Brumett, which you can read here), I thought it might be nice to share a story from that same issue that I thought was pretty darned great, to say the least. That isn't to say Brumett's winner isn't great--it is! You should read it!--but let's face it: the winner gets all the publicity, and she certainly doesn't need a shout...

...a safe way for the youngsters to get celebrate the holiday, and you can also see not-that-spooky Halloween animals such as tarantulas...

This is a great time to bring the kids out to meet Santa and avoid the long mall lines. Plus, while the kids get to meet Santa you can enjoy breakfast, on Saturday mornings (only) starting at 9 am or have lunch at noon either Saturday or Sunday...

The Milwaukee County Zoo gets in the Halloween spirit a bit early with its annual Trick-or-Treat Spooktacular, a safe way for the young ones to collect a little extra candy and learn a thing or two about animals...

Shepherd readers are well acquainted with the Bonobo and Congo Biodiversity Initiative, launched 10 years ago by the Milwaukee Zoological Society to study and help protect the elusive, endangered bonobo (human DNA is 98.4% identical to that of bonobos). The project’s leader, Dr. Gay Reinartz, is currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to deliver supplies and collect more data on the great ape. Reinartz reports that they are seeing many bonobos at Etate, the project’s research park. But, as this dispatch shows, she and her crew are also finding disturbing evidence of elephant poaching.

The comparatively mild weather (at least by February standards) makes today a perfect day to get out and visit the Milwaukee Zoo, which is sponsoring one of its Family Free Days today. That means more money for you to spend in the gift shop.

Nov. 24: Today we leave for Ika, a remote patrol post on the Salonga River about six hours from Etate, our main research station. Our objective is to continue to survey bonobos upriver from Etate in the strip of land bordered by the Yenge and Salonga rivers. We want to know whether the bonobo population continues or whether it ends at some point, limited by either habitat changes or poaching. Based on previous excursions, we know that as we move further away from Etate, poaching increases while the forest remains the same. At the same time, bonobos are present, but they are less densely populated.

Nov. 26-29: Days begin to blur. Our progress is slowed by daily torrential downpours. We walk from sunup to sundown. We plan our routes and campsites according to where we are most likely to find water at the end of the day. Despite the rains, finding potable water is difficult, since the springs we seek may be bordered by a kilometer of swampland. I’m never too keen on sleeping in swamps, but occasionally we have to. If we stop too early in the day to make camp, the honeybee scouts find us. They relay their discovery to their hive, and by next morning they inundate us with legions of their kind that crawl over and into our backpacks, our clothing and food. …