There’s Been A Massive Change at Tilden’s Little Farm, and Locals Are Upset

Berkeley, California – There’s been a massive change at Tilden Regional Park’s Little Farm, and locals are upset.

For decades, Little Farm offered a free place for families to come and visit with farm animals. The farm has cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, and more classic farm animals.

One of the most appealing parts of Little Farm was the fact that kids could get up close and personal with animals they might otherwise see only at the zoo, or out the car window grazing on trails in the East Bay.

It was something of an East Bay summer tradition to bring big sticks of celery to Little Farm and feed the animals. The cows especially would happily munch down on the healthy greens, delighting tiny visitors at a cost of only a few dollars to their families.

Now, all of that has ended. On a recent visit to Little Farm, I brought several pounds of celery intending to feed the cows and discovered instead that the farm is filled with signs indicating guests can no longer feed any of the animals.

These signs go beyond mere suggestions, too. When families at the farm attempted to feed some celery to the sheep—perhaps not noticing the signs—a park ranger immediately came over and told them to stop. It seems that this is not only a new policy, but a vigorously enforced one.

What gives? It appears that the ban on feeding animals at Little Farm started earlier this year due to concerns about bird flu. Avian flu most severely affects birds, but it can also infect and harm other livestock.

To be clear, there’s never been a case of avian flu at Little Farm, and the disease has existed in California for decades.

The ban on feeding reportedly initially started with warnings specifically about avian flu. These were hastily printed and hung up, and some of them are still around the bird parts of the exhibits.

Over time, though, this seems to have morphed into a permanent policy. The signs that we observed while visiting were much more permanent—made of metal and with an East Bay Parks design—indicating somebody put significant time and resources into making them.

That means that feeding animals at Little Farm is likely a thing of the past. Throughout our visit, we observed forlorn-looking families walking around with unused bags of lettuce and celery, likely having promised their kids something they couldn’t now deliver.

Online, locals were upset too. One person wrote on social media, “Gotta find something else to do with all the celery we grow in the yard.” Indeed, many people in the East Bay grow celery and other veggies specifically for the animals at the Berkeley farm.

Although I understand the need to keep the animals safe, the no-feeding policy feels like a major loss.

One of the most appealing things about Little Farm was the fact that it was one of the few venues where kids could do something that would’ve felt extremely natural in the East Bay 50 years ago, but which now is almost nonexistent: interact with the kinds of farm animals that we might otherwise only encounter in a children’s book–or on a plate.

Yes, there are plenty of opportunities to look at animals in the East Bay—we have the Oakland Zoo for that. But being able to experience interacting with them firsthand is so much rarer, and Little Farm was one of the only places that provided that.

The farm also served as something of an outlet for tendencies people might otherwise indulge elsewhere. The East Bay Regional Park District warns that it’s incredibly dangerous to approach cows on a path while hiking—especially if they’re defending their young, as they can attack hikers and dogs.

The consolation prize here on hikes with kids was always to say, “We can’t go up to these cows, but next time we go to Little Farm, you can pet the cows and feed them!” That’s no longer possible, which may make interacting with livestock in unsafe environments that much more appealing.

I hope that the Parks District ultimately finds a way to keep people and animals safe while also allowing for feeding.

Perhaps they could place restrictions on the types of food guests could feed the animals, or could set aside supervised feeding times each week when a ranger could ensure that visitors washed their hands and otherwise took steps to keep everyone safe.

Until then, visiting Little Farm is much less appealing. If you want to look at cows, it’s a matter of simply walking to the nearest open space by your house, and the farm will likely serve more as a spot for school groups than somewhere locals go with their own kids over the summer.

I hope they bring back animal feeding at Little Farm. Until then, I’ve got a fridge full of celery and not much to do with it!