Elk Island National Park has more money in its coffers after selling 30 wood bison.
The sale, held March 4 at Moore’s Auctioneering in Alder Flats, Alta., generated $198,300, said park warden Wes Olson.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm. People were pretty proud to get a wood bison.”
About 50 bidders braved icy area roads to attend the sale, said Olson, adding there were about 65 spectators and more phone bidders. Six people took home the majority of the stock.
Six bred cows averaged about $20,000 each while the 24 males, including 20 calves, three yearlings and one two-year-old, averaged $3,700.
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It’s the first time the park, located east of Edmonton, had wood bison on the auction block. The bison are heavier and more rare than plains bison, which the park auctions off regularly.
“There’s a novelty to have a wood bison. They’re still pretty rare,” said Olson, who noted most buyers were from Alberta.
Of the money raised from the sale, 25 percent will stay in the park to manage the wood bison herd that typically consists of 400 head. The rest will go toward establishing new national parks.
Numerous people asked if the park would have another sale, said Olson, who told them it won’t if at all possible. The park’s first priority is to give surplus animals to other free-roaming herds, he said.
