BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Organizers of an initiative petition that would ban fishing and hunting in Oregon have now submitted the minimum number of signatures to get on this fall’s ballot if enough of those names are valid, a first for the years-long campaign that targets so-called animal cruelty exemptions.
So reports the Oregon Hunters Association, which is vehemently opposed to IP 28 and says that petition backers will canvas the upcoming Rose Festival in Portland to “build a safety cushion” in case some of the 120,000-plus signatures gathered so far aren’t legit.
“They are moving fast, they are hungry, and they are coming directly for our Oregon way of life,” OHA Executive Director Todd Adkins warned OHA members today.
Indeed, IP 28 represents an existential threat to fishing and hunting in the Beaver State, not to mention related businesses such as guide and outfitter services, gear and tackle makers, magazines, sporting goods stores, sportsmen’s shows, fishing boat dealers and even an entire state agency, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is funded in no small part by our license revenues.
OHA has taken the lead on getting the word out about IP 28 among the sportsmen’s community, while organizations like the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and Oregon Farm Bureau are warning ranchers and farmers about it.
National groups are chiming in as well. Ducks Unlimited this week warned it “would have far-reaching, unintended consequences for wildlife conservation, scientific research, hunting and fishing, and outdoor recreation.”
Two previous iterations of the same basic initiative fizzled earlier this decade, but according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s website, as of yesterday IP 28 supporters have turned in 120,935 signatures. They’re required to collect 117,173 valid ones by July 2 to qualify for the November election.
If passed – which still seems like a long shot but that doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly – IP 28 “would remove the exemption for hunting, fishing, and trapping from our cruelty laws, meaning that any practice that involves the intentional injury of an animal would be criminalized,” according to the campaign itself.
It would also effectively bar the slaughtering of livestock and other farm animals in Oregon, and the measure contains no exemptions for tribal harvests, like the culturally important capture of the ceremonial first fish at Willamette Falls last week by members of the Grand Ronde Tribe.
I wish you all would stop calling it a “hunting and fishing” ban. It encompasses everything from raising livestock, riding horses, to raising dogs and cats, to using animals like dogs for sporting events like field trials and other events. Tgisbis WAY more than just a “hunting and fishing ban”. –Gary Strassburg, warning on Facebook of the broad impacts of IP 28
The Secretary of State’s certified summary for IP 28 says:
Under current law, activities that do or may kill or injure animals are lawful, including animal husbandry practices; slaughtering livestock and poultry; animal breeding practices; fishing, hunting, and trapping; wildlife management practices; rodeos; scientific or agricultural research/teaching; control of vermin/nuisance animals; reasonable handling, training techniques. Proposed measure would make those practices, and other common practices involving animals, criminal offenses if injury/death occurs. Criminalizes breeding practices for domestic, livestock, and equine animals; exception for “good veterinary practices” and self-defense. Applies to mammals (including vermin), birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish. Eliminates hunting and fishing licenses, which would remove funding from wildlife management. Directs state money to fund for animal welfare, food assistance, job training for persons who lose livelihood due to initiative’s enactment. Other provisions.
Initiative organizers have downplayed their odds of success and say they’re playing the long game, but if indeed they have now qualified for November’s ballot, the long game is Right Now.
This bad idea needs to be crushed like Oregon’s gas tax increase was this week, and OHA’s Adkins says a major effort is being launched to do just that with IP 28.
