SHORT TAKES : Hepburn, Friends Act Naturally

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Bob Hope, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley MacLaine have joined actress Katharine Hepburn in donating items to an art auction Saturday for the North American Wildlife Assn.

The association, based in East Lyme, provides the only 24-hour wildlife rescue service in Connecticut.

Taylor has donated a signed tote bag. MacLaine is contributing an autographed book. An oil painting by Hepburn will be one of 90 artworks auctioned.

Hepburn, who has a home in Old Saybrook, became a backer of the group after it rescued a sea bird with a broken wing she had found.

Hope, Streisand and Charlton Heston have donated autographed photos, and actor Chad Everett is expected to provide three original poems, said Steve Sosensky, an auction organizer.