The bison herd at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge needs to be thinned out for the first time ever. Twenty of the big wooly creatures are going up for a public bid.
In past years, the herd has only been around 40 or 50 head, which was fine for the size of the refuge. This year, the herd’s grown to 74 bison, so “it’s time to get rid of a few,” according to Christy Smith, the refuge operations specialist. In addition to those being sold, Smith says another 21 bison are being donated to conservation districts and to Native American tribes nationwide. The lot includes four bulls, six yearlings and ten calves. She says each adult should be worth between 500 and one thousand dollars.
All of them are pure bison genetic stock with no cattle genes mixed in, making them prime for breeding. Bids have to be received at the wildlife refuge in Prairie City by noon Saturday. For more information, call (515) 994-3400.
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