Two prize, disease-free Addo Buffalo bulls are sure to draw attention from buyers at the upcoming Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees Game Auction on 29 June 2012.
One of the bulls, aptly named Bismarck, has an estimated horn span of 1,18m. The other large bull’s horn span is estimated at 1,14m.
Two prize, disease-free Addo Buffalo bulls are sure to draw attention from buyers at the upcoming Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees Game Auction on 29 June 2012.
One of the bulls, aptly named Bismarck, has an estimated horn span of 1,18m. The other large bull’s horn span is estimated at 1,14m.
“These are two of the biggest buffalo bulls, in terms of body size as well as horn span, I have seen in my 20 years of experience in Addo Elephant National Park,” said Conservation Manager, John Adendorff.
Adendorff, who manages the buffalo currently in the park’s bomas, added that the bulls represent excellent breeding stock for private game reserve owners wishing to start up buffalo herds or bring new genes into their current buffalo populations.
Forty Addo buffalo will go under the hammer at the auction, including a number of cows who are pregnant. A few cows have already dropped calves in the boma. The buffalo, which will be sold individually, are in excellent condition following the last couple of years of good rainfall. The buffalo range in age from four years to mature buffalo.
Addo Elephant National Park’s buffalo are traditionally much sought-after as breeding stock due to the absence of diseases such as bovine tuberculosis, corridor disease and foot-and-mouth disease in the herd. The Park is home to the largest disease-free buffalo herd in the country
The annual auction, which is now the biggest game auction in the Eastern Cape, represents an important avenue for South African National Parks (SANParks) to grow its protected area system. Proceeds of the sale of SANParks wildlife on the game auction are channelled into SANParks’ Park Development Fund, a fund used to expand and develop South Africa’s national park system.
Other game to go on auction from various private game providers includes red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, mountain zebra, gemsbok, ostrich, bushbuck and other antelope species.
Potential buyers can pre-register via the Absa Kirkwood Wildsfees website www.wildsfees.co.za or can register on the day of the auction between 8.30am and 12pm. The auction starts at 12pm on 29 June.
