The Livestock and Poultry Commission will re-license a Boone County feral hog-hunting ranch if it passes inspection, the panel's executive director said Tuesday.
In the meantime, the Rolling R Ranch can continue to operate as usual, Bruce Holland said.
The commission deadlocked twice Friday on whether to revoke Rolling R's license even though commissioners found that wild hogs had escaped the facility. The commission also found that Rolling R's fences were shorter than required by commission regulations.
It is a violation of state law to release a feral hog into the wild, and the commission's own policy states that any violation of its swine regulations "will result" in the loss of a ranch's license. The panel's chairman, Mack Hayden of Russellville, said he would prefer to impose a fine or probation since it was the first time the commission had heard a complaint against Rolling R, but an assistant attorney general told commissioners they had no authority to impose a lesser penalty.
It was unclear following the hearing what would happen next.
Holland has said that the Livestock and Poultry Commission investigated all three of the state's hog ranches after receiving complaints about escaped hogs. Arkansas law requires hogs belonging to the ranches to have identifying tags.
The other two hog ranches are Cuz and Cuz Wild Boar Ranch in White County and Choctaw Hunting Ranch in Columbia County. The cases against Cuz and Cuz and Choctaw were originally scheduled to be heard Friday as well, but the commission postponed them until Dec. 10 after the hearing on Rolling R lasted five hours.
Holland said Tuesday that Cuz and Cuz and Choctaw could continue to operate until their cases are decided.
A law regulating feral hogs was passed by the Legislature in 2013 following complaints from farmers and ranchers who say the animals do extensive damage to crops, pastures and levees.
Dave Richardson, Rolling R's owner, argued at the hearing that the three hog ranches were "grandfathered" by the 2013 law, meaning they could continue to operate.
He said Tuesday that he would bring his fences into compliance with the commission's regulations and apply for an inspection within 30 days.
Kenford Carter, who owns a 1,000-acre cattle ranch in Marion County, testified at Friday's hearing that hogs from Rolling R had torn up his pastures. Carter said Tuesday he accepted the commission's decision to allow Rolling R to continue operating.
"I'd rather [Richardson] not lose his business," Carter said. "I just don't want any more of his hogs coming on my property."
Business on 10/21/2015