At the irregular Monday meeting of the Pierce County Joint Planning Commission a request was made by Spotted Dog, LLC to rezone a 4.6 acre parcel of residential property as agricultural in order for the company to operate a hyena farm.
The board had questions about the new operation’s potential impact on the surrounding College Avenue community, specifically how many hyenas would be on-site.
Ron Hackles, speaking on behalf of Spotted Dog, said only 50 - 60 hyenas would be at that location at a given time, including approximately 12 breeding pairs of hyenas and a larger variable number of young hyenas, which are referred to as cubs. Hackles then passed around glossy photos to show how cute the cubs are.
Asked about possible safety concerns, Hackles said the hyenas “hardly ever escape”. On the rare occasions a hyena might get loose, Hackles said they would likely only get into residents garbage or possibly eat their pets for which the company has created a damages fund to compensate anyone filing a legitimate claim.
Hackles requested anyone filing such a claim simply bring what’s left of of their garbage or pets up to the local Spotted Dog offices which will be on-site. He also advised future claimants to just yell from the road until someone comes out of the building and to never come inside the fenced area as some of the cuddly hyenas will be trained for “military-grade service.”
The facility has already been constructed and its kennels stocked with the first twelve adult hyenas. All Spotted Dog, LLC lacks now is for the land to be properly rezoned. The board seemed satisfied by Hackles’s answers and unanimously approved a recommendation the county commission approve the rezoning request.
Before flying back to his 50-acre facility in Texas, Hackles addressed the recent calls to 911 about a “big mean dog” terrorizing neighborhood children, denying any connection to Spotted Dog or its affiliates.
