Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and brucellosis were introduced in the 1920s to the Canadian north when approximately 6,000 plains bison were shipped from Wainwright, Alberta, to Wood Buffalo National Park.

Current testing methods for these diseases are tricky and takes multiple 'handlings' to get results.

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This method includes 'capturing' a wild bison,

injecting a tiny bit of the disease into the tail of the bison, releasing it back into the wild,
and then 'recapturing' again 3 days later to
see if the injected disease had a 'reaction' with the skin.

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The current testing method is not only hard on the bison but also is not accurate.

Which further strains the already stretched resources of conservation groups and Indigenous Nations managing diseases in wild herds.