American Bison - Buffalo Field Campaign

These concepts are being developed and put into practice by
state/provincial, federal, and international health agencies to
address the complications of managing intractable disease
problems in wild animals ranging on large landscapes that
also sustain domestic livestock industries and associated local
economies (Bengis et al. 2002).
National wildlife health strategies have recently been developed
in Canada and the U.S. in response to the many difficult disease
issues surrounding free-ranging wildlife. The development of
national wildlife health programmes paralleled the increasing
profile of wildlife health issues in social and political arenas.
These national strategies need to provide clear guidance for
coordinated conservation action and a countrywide legislative
and policy framework that will influence bison restoration and
conservation efforts in North America. It is hopeful that mounting
tension between the agriculture, human, and wildlife health
communities can be mitigated by developing a comprehensive
national wildlife health policy, supportive scientific research
programmes, broad stakeholder engagement in decision
processes, a conservation-sensitive regulatory framework, and
open social discussion about the disease risks from wildlife.
American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010 37