Oregon hunters, anglers and farmers can breathe a sigh of relief.
Initiative Petition 28 â the deceptively branded animal-rights proposal that would have effectively criminalized hunting, fishing, ranching and a long list of other normal activities â will not appear on Oregons November ballot after all.
And this one came down to the wire.
Supporters of IP28 submitted more than 142,000 signatures, comfortably exceeding the 117,173 required to qualify for the ballot. But after two rounds of verification, the Oregon Secretary of States Office determined that only 104,262 of those signatures were valid.
That left the campaign roughly 13,000 signatures short.
Good.
Because while proponents called IP28 the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act â or the warm and fuzzy-sounding “PEACE Act” â the proposal was never simply about prosecuting people who abuse animals. Oregon already has laws for that.
IP28 sought to remove the exemptions in Oregons animal-cruelty statutes that protect lawful hunting, fishing, trapping, ranching, farming, pest control and accepted animal-husbandry practices.
Under the proposal, killing or injuring an animal would have been classified as abuse unless it was necessary to prevent immediate harm to a person or another animal.
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That means hunters harvesting deer, anglers keeping fish, ranchers processing cattle, commercial fishermen bringing seafood to shore and farmers controlling pests could all have potentially faced criminal consequences.
The proposal was so extreme that opposing it became one of the few genuinely bipartisan causes left in American politics.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, all 37 Democrats in the Oregon House and Republican lawmakers across the state spoke out against it. The Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Veterinary Medical Association and Oregon Hunters Association also opposed the initiative.
Kotek said Friday that she was “relieved” IP28 failed to qualify.
“I know from conversations with Oregonians across the state that this measure would have done nothing to help them,” she said.
Shes right.
IP28 would not have created some peaceful wildlife paradise where every deer, elk, fish, cow and invasive pest lived happily ever after. It would have undermined the very wildlife-management system that keeps animal populations and habitats healthy.
Hunters and anglers provide enormous amounts of conservation funding through license sales and federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and fishing gear. Those dollars help states acquire habitat, maintain boat ramps, conduct wildlife research, restore species and operate public recreation programs used by everyone.
Travis Thompson, a conservation advocate who helped lead the successful effort to establish a constitutional right to hunt and fish in Florida, recently explained to OutKick Outdoors that sportsmens contributions support far more than hunting and fishing.
“Its used to acquire lands. Its used for boat-ramp maintenance. Its used for youth programs. Its used for all sorts of t
