So, animal-rights activists in Oregon have surpassed the required 117,000 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot by submitting more than 126,000 signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. The final deadline for submitting signatures is July 2, and the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office will then have until August 2 to certify the signature list for Initiative Petition 28 (PEACE Act), which would ban all hunting and fishing in the state—and ranching and so much more.
The 4,000-plus word voter initiative begins with:
People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions (PEACE) Act
Whereas, Oregon state law already recognizes that animals are sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, stress, and fear.
Whereas, current exemptions permit unnecessary and inhumane harm to animals.
The People of Oregon therefore propose the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions (PEACE) Act to amend Chapter 167 of the Oregon Revised Statutes—which currently provides unnecessary exemptions to laws governing animal abuse, animal neglect, and animal sexual assault—in order to reduce the suffering of animals and improve their quality of life.
The “suffering” includes animals shot by hunters or caught on anglers’ hooks.
If this initiative does make the ballot—and it looks to be on its way to do that—then voters won’t have to read the initiative’s 10 pages of legal jargon, which is designed to effectively give almost all animals the same rights as human beings (a person could only shoot an animal, for example, in self-defense or in the defense of others). Instead, voters will be given a short—500 words or less—explanation. This would be written by a five-member Explanatory Statement Committee with input from the state legislative counsel. The chief petitioners (the animal-rights activists who support the petition) would appoint two people, the Secretary of State would appoint two opponents of the measure and those four members would together select a “neutral” fifth member. If they cannot agree, the Secretary of State appoints one.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (D) has, in the past, been endorsed by a long list of gun-control groups, including Everytown and the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety. He has a favorable rating from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV) from his time in the state legislature. The OLCV has not taken a public position opposing or supporting Initiative Petition 28, as it is not a sportsmen-conservation group, but is an environmental group that works with pro-hunting conservation groups.
Given this, it is unclear if the explanation of this petition would honestly reflect the massive bans on hunting, ranching, and more it would impose upon state residents.
Voter education about the potential impacts of this anti-hunting and ranching petition—to name only two of its possible impacts—is critical.
The PEACE Act would criminalize Oregon’s beef industry, its fishing industry, its hunting industry (including all the monies used for conservation that is currently generated by hunting and fishing licenses) and a lot of research done at public universities.
Industry groups, such as the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Hunter’s Association and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, have all come out as opposed to the petition.
State Sen. Christine Drazan (R) said that the PEACE Act “would kill thousands of jobs and threaten our food supply at a time when we can least afford it.”
The PEACE Act is an attack on how Americans have always lived. It is an attack on common sense—this is even true from a vegetarian’s point of view, as every farmer needs to protect their crops from depredating wildlife. It is an attack on all that sportsmen do for wildlife conservation. It is a direct effort to destroy the incredibly successful North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
If the PEACE Act does make the Oregon ballot, it needs to be defeated for the sake of humans and wildlife.
