An Oregon animal rights campaign is gaining steam with Democrats and getting close to the signature threshold needed to put a ballot measure before voters in November that would effectively ban all hunting, fishing, livestock farming, and animal research across the state.
Initiative Petition 28, dubbed the PEACE Act — People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions — needs 117,000 verified signatures by July 2 to qualify for the November ballot. As of mid-February, organizers reported 105,000 signatures gathered, leaving them just 12,000 short of the minimum.
The radical leftist campaign has raised more than $270,000 in donations. Chief petitioner David Michelson told Portland’s Fox 12 the funding has come from national animal welfare organizations and individual donors, including a $30,000 contribution from the Craigslist Charitable Fund, $20,000 from PETA, $11,000 from World Animal Protection, along with roughly $130,000 from 12 individual donors.
The measure would dramatically restructure Oregon’s animal cruelty laws to ban virtually any activity that results in any harm or death to wild or domestic animals. Exceptions would only be carved out for public safety, self-defense, and veterinary care
The effect would be total criminalization of hunting, fishing, trapping, commercial livestock operations, artificial insemination of farm animals… and even mouse traps and rodent control.
Amy Patrick, policy director for the Oregon Hunters Association, told Cowboy State Daily the group plans to deliver what she called “the most historic defeat” in Oregon ballot measure history if IP28 qualifies. She said the ballot should be a warning to other states about the reach of organized animal rights campaigns and radical Democrats.
“I think Oregon is almost always a cautionary tale for other states,” Patrick said, citing the state’s “sharp urban-rural divide.”
Michelson said he expects voters to reject the proposal, and said his ultimate goal is a long-term national ban.
“It took 50 years to get women’s suffrage,” he said. “Our campaign wants to find a way to meet human needs without killing animals.”