Tuberculosis in animals is an infectious and contagious disease, caused by acid-fast bacilli of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The disease has been confirmed in Poland in farm and wild animals. Among the latter the largest number of cases was diagnosed in free-ranging European bison in the Bieszczady Mountains. The disease has also been present there since 2013 in the wild boar population. From April 21, 2021, in accordance with EU Regulation 2016/429, tuberculosis in European bison is a disease that is subject to mandatory eradication in all EU Member States. In Poland and in most EU countries where free-ranging European bison herds exist, no strategy has yet been developed to combat tuberculosis outbreaks in this species. To date, in Podkarpackie Voivodship eradication measures of bison tuberculosis have been undertaken in a framework of interdisciplinary cooperation of employees of the State Forests and the Veterinary Inspection, supported by representatives of the sciences. The article presents the legal status and the administrative aspects of the issue, as well as experiences and practical solutions of tuberculosis eradication in free-living European bison herds which have proven themselves in field conditions. The conclusions regarding an eradication strategy and the needs of tuberculosis monitoring are also presented in this article, which, apart from wild bison herds, takes into account other wild animal species and farm cattle from areas and buffer zones of bison herds infected with tuberculosis.

The regaining of independence by Poland in 1918 brought freedom, but it also posed many challenges for the state administration, including the reconstruction of a uniform veterinary service. It was not an easy task, considering that already in early 1920 an epizootic of rinderpest crossed the Caucasus and spread in the European part of Soviet Russia, reaching eastern Poland in September of that year. A modern legal framework for combating contagious animal diseases was successfully established within merely ten years. A breakthrough in the field of law regarding the eradication of infectious animal diseases was the Regulation of the President of the Republic of Poland of August 22, 1927 on combating contagious animal diseases. It was the first legal act of this type in the country and one of the most modern regulations of its kind in Europe at that time. The list of infectious diseases covered by the obligation to report and control included rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, blackleg disease, game and cattle plague, tuberculosis of cattle in the open form (lungs, udder, uterus and intestines), glanders of solipeds, sheep pox, dourine, coital exanthema of equines and cattle, scabies of solipeds and sheep, rabies, swine fever and plague, swine erysipelas, poultry cholera (pasterellosis) and chicken plague. The article presents the rules of combating infectious animal diseases in the example of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease, which were characteristic of the period of the Second Polish Republic.

Comparing to the former regulations, the methods of combating infectious animal diseases established in the Animal Health Law has undergone significant changes in many aspects, including the categorization of diseases, and the need to apply the provisions of this regulation directly may raise doubts both as to their interpretation and to the conduct of the authorities responsible for this area. In particular, this applies to domestic activities and the scope of competences of poviat veterinarians. An additional aspect that hinders the transparency of the application of the Animal Health Law is the principle of delegation of powers to the European Commission to issue delegated and implementing acts that supplement, specify or amend them. Therefore, we are dealing with the need to efficiently navigate the area of many new legal acts, the overall operational knowledge of which becomes indispensable, especially for employees and bodies of the Veterinary Inspectionin Poland.