Buffalo auction set at Wichita Mountains refugeCACHE, Okla. (AP) — The annual auction of buffalo at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma is scheduled later this week. The 44th annual auction is to begin at noon Thursday at the r

CACHE, Okla. (AP) — The annual auction of buffalo at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma is scheduled later this week.

The 44th annual auction is to begin at noon Thursday at the refuge’s corrals about 12 miles north of Cache.

The Lawton Constitution reports that 49 buffalo will be for sale after 17 were given to the Intertribal Bison Cooperative under a policy allowing tribes to have up to 25 percent of the surplus buffalo each year. Refuge manager Tony Booth said those buffalo will go to a herd the Quapaw Tribe has established on 900 acres it owns.

The sale includes nine yearling heifers, eight 2-year-old cows, three 3-year-old cows, eight yearling bulls, 16 2-year-old bulls and five 3-year-old bulls.

The auctions are held to maintain appropriate numbers of the animals within the refuge.