Hunting, Fishing, Farming, Pest Control in Oregon Threatened by I.P. 28
Nice view, but leave your rod at home? I.P. 28 aims to ban hunting and fishing in Oregon
Threatened by the Prospect of No Fishing? Know P.E.A.C.E.
Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28), also known as People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, (P.E.A.C.E.) would effectively outlaw hunting and fishing in the state of Oregon. It would accomplish this not by adding any new rules, but by extending the anti-cruelty and abuse provisions in the laws that protect dogs, cats and other non-human companions to livestock as well as aninmals in the wild.
This would effectively render illegal most forms of ranching, a lot of common farming practices, and pest control. While you’re slapping your forehead at the thought of the mosquito police confiscating your bug zapper, the measure has to be taken with more than a grain of salt (which you won’t be sprinkling on your Oregon-grown salmon, steak or chicken if this bill passes.)
Funded by out-of-state money, this initiative will likely appear on Oregon voter’s ballots next November. As of the end of February, signature-gatherers had surpassed the 100,000 signature milestone, putting the campaign within reach of the required 117,000 to put the measure on the ballot.
P.E.A.C.E. organizers concede that I.P. 28 stands little chance of passing in November. The campaign claims it’s following in the footsteps of pioneering women working in the latter half of the 19th century to secure women’s right to vote. Back then, in the vast majority of the men-only voting American political sphere, women voting seemed like a radical proposal. But over the next 70 years, it was normalized and finally accepted in 1920. Yet there’s a fundamental difference between what proponents of I-28 hope to accomplish, and what brave suffragettes did more than a century ago.
“We believe it is possible to meet all of our needs as human beings while simultaneously meeting the needs of the animals we inhabit this state with. Using the killing of animals as a strategy to meet our needs is a choice, and our campaign wants to propose making a different one,” reads a statement on the pro-I.P. 28 website.
It’s not a “different choice” these new P.E.A.C.E. activists are proposing, nor an expansion of choice as the suffrage movement accomplished. Paradoxically, in the name of animal welfare, it restricts choice: not only on the menu for all Oregonians, but for the people who’ve chosen to make a living doing the work of putting food on the table.
For catch-and-release anglers, it removes the possibility of non-lethal pursuit of trout and steelhead, a vital connection to rivers and the natural world many of us cherish.
What Can I Do about I.P. 28?
The most important thing you can do: make sure your voter registration is up-to-date, and make sure to vote next November. In the meantime, stay informed: early July is the deadline for petition signatures to be counted, and the Oregon Secretary of State’s office to determine if enough valid signatures have been gathered. The Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Hunter’s Association, the Oregon chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as well as the Deschutes River Alliance are vocally opposing this initiative. It’s likely more organizations will come out in opposition if and when I.P. 28 makes the November ballot.
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