ENROLLED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 18
BY REPRESENTATIVE MCFARLAND
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To create the Feral Hog Management Advisory Task Force in the Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries.
WHEREAS, feral hogs (Sus scrofa), including European wild hogs and hybrids,
commonly weigh two hundred pounds but can easily weigh up to four hundred pounds, are
quickly becoming the most serious problem facing land managers and hunters in Louisiana;
and
WHEREAS, feral hogs are omnivorous but vegetation constitutes the largest portion
of their diet as they use their very tough nose that allows them to "root" for invertebrates,
tubers, or any other underground food, thereby disrupting crops, golf courses, levees,
hayfields, tree farms, and even lawns; and
WHEREAS, feral hogs are extremely prolific with generally two litters per year of
up to ten piglets per litter and feral hogs have virtually no natural predators so piglet survival
is nearly one hundred percent which allows the population to increase exponentially; and
WHEREAS, feral hogs are plagued by a multitude of diseases that can affect humans,
commercial swine operations, or wildlife, including swine brucellosis, pseudorabies, and
classical swine fever; and
WHEREAS, with their high proliferation and lack of natural predators, management
of feral hogs is of paramount importance to the state as part of a coordinated effort of
assessment, planning, exclusion, scouting, control, and monitoring to document and reduce
natural resource damage caused by feral hogs and focus interagency management efforts to
reduce impacts and health concerns for other animals and humans.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
create the Feral Hog Management Advisory Task Force in the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries as follows:
A. There is hereby established the Feral Hog Management Advisory Task Force to
study and monitor the feral hog issues in the state of Louisiana and to make
recommendations for the management of feral hogs.
B. The task force shall be composed as follows:
(1) One member appointed from the staff of the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to serve in an advisory
role as a nonvoting member.
(2) One member appointed from the staff of the Department of Agriculture and
Forestry by the commissioner of agriculture to serve in an advisory role as a nonvoting
member.
(3) One member appointed by the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture
and Forestry from three nominations submitted by the Soil and Water Conservation
Commission.
(4) One member appointed by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries from three nominees submitted by the Louisiana Landowners Association.
(5) One member appointed by the commissioner of agriculture from three nominees
submitted by the Louisiana Forestry Association.
(6) One member appointed by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries from three nominees submitted by the Louisiana Chapter of the National Deer
Association and Louisiana Wildlife Federation.
(7) One member appointed from the faculty of the LSU College of Agriculture
appointed by the dean of the LSU College of Agriculture.
(8) One member appointed by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries from three nominees submitted by the Louisiana Association of Professional
Biologists - Louisiana Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
(9) One member appointed by the commissioner of agriculture from three nominees
submitted by the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation.
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(10) One member appointed by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries from three nominees submitted by the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana.
(11) One member appointed by the state conservationist for United States
Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service to serve in an advisory
role as a nonvoting member.
(12) One member appointed by the State Conservationist for United States
Department of Agriculture, representing United States Department of Agriculture Animal
Health and Plant Health Inspection Service/Wildlife Services Louisiana to serve in an
advisory role as a nonvoting member.
C. The members appointed under the provisions of Paragraphs (B)(1), (2), (11) and
(12) of this Section shall be considered members of the task force for determination of the
number of members necessary for a quorum and for establishing the presence of a quorum.
D. Six members of the task force shall constitute a quorum sufficient to conduct
meetings and business of the task force. The task force shall elect a chairman from its
membership and may seek and receive assistance from universities within the state in the
development of methods to manage feral hogs in the state of Louisiana. The members of the
task force shall serve without compensation; however, the task force may receive the same
reimbursement of travel expenses for attending task force meetings as is allowed for other
state employees' travel.
E. The task force is hereby charged with the following responsibilities:
(1) To provide an annual estimate of the population of feral hogs in Louisiana.
(2) To analyze the financial impact of feral hogs.
(3) To identify human health impacts from an increasing population of feral hogs
in Louisiana, include reporting of all diseases carried by feral hogs that can be transferred
to humans, wildlife, domesticated animals.
(4) To identify and coordinate public outreach opportunities to educate about feral
hog control methods and the need for control to protect human health, native wildlife and
their habitat, farm land, levees and water quality.
(5) To identify available funding sources that can be used to assist Louisiana in
reduction and control methods.
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(6) To coordinate efforts to control and reduce the population of feral hogs,
including private, local, state and federal efforts.
(7) To assess current control methods and effectiveness in population control.
(8) To identify alternative methods and potential for effectiveness in feral hog
population control.
(9) To assist in developing and evaluating new methods of control.
(10) To recommend programs needed and identify funding mechanisms.
(11) To coordinate enforcement and tracking of transport and movement of feral
hogs.
(12) To recommend regulations necessary to achieve goals of population control and
reduction.
F. The Feral Hog Management Advisory Task Force shall make recommendations
to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the Senate Committee
on Natural Resources from time to time as it sees fit.
G. The Feral Hog Management Advisory Task Force shall submit a report to the
House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the Senate Committee on
Natural Resources no later than February 1, 2027, and shall cease to exist on March 1, 2027,
and thereafter.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded to the
secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the commissioner of agriculture.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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