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Danger Signs for California Death Caps

By morel delimma ⋅ March 2, 2007 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Most recently, a grandmother visiting from Mexico died and five members of her family became seriously ill in January after eating Death Caps they found at Wilder Ranch State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Hopefully, no one who enters San Mateo County’s Monte Bello, Russian Ridge and Coal Creek open-space preserves is likely to make that mistake this spring. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has posted warning signs at the entrance to each recreation area this month to warn hikers against picking and eating Death Caps and other poisonous mushrooms found in the area.

The red signs, designed by amateur mycologist Dr. William Freedman with his wife’s help in 1998, feature drawings of the Death Cap and warnings in ten languages,including Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Khmer and Laotian. The signs, which the district began being posting two years ago, are in use all over the country. The Death Caps peaked in January, but the signs are designed to apply to all poisonous fungi — which is the point, according to Freedman.

Source: San Mateo County Times