A radical ballot initiative in Oregon seeks to criminalize virtually all killing or injuring of animals, threatening to upend hunting, fishing, ranching, and even basic animal husbandry across the state.
According to the Gateway Pundit, progressive activists have succeeded in gathering enough signatures to advance Initiative Petition 28, a sweeping animal cruelty measure that would effectively outlaw practices that have sustained Oregon families, rural communities, and local industries for generations. As reported by the New York Post, the proposal would outlaw killing or injuring any animal even while shooting or catching your dinner and is now poised to appear on the November ballot after organizers collected roughly 120,000 signatures, surpassing the threshold of about 117,000.
The measures scope is breathtaking in its extremism, going far beyond traditional animal welfare protections to target the very foundations of agriculture and outdoor life in the state. The initiative would not only ban hunting and fishing, but would also prohibit slaughtering livestock and using animals in rodeos and for scientific research, effectively criminalizing the food supply chain and longstanding Western traditions.
In addition, the proposal would also prohibit operating a commercial poultry business and castrating or neutering livestock, among other practices, undermining basic herd management and responsible animal care. Such restrictions would devastate family farms, small businesses, and the broader natural resource economy that still anchors much of rural Oregon.
Hunting advocates and conservative leaders are sounding the alarm, warning that the measure is not about compassion but about ideological control over how Oregonians live, work, and feed their families. Hunting advocates said the legislation misses the mark by a mile, the New York Post noted, capturing the disbelief of those who see the initiative as a direct attack on common sense.
[Its] an all out assault on Oregonians way of life, gubernatorial candidate Sen. Christine Drazan (R-Canby) told the Statesman Journal. She added, It criminalizes ranchers, farmers, meat producers and threatens to kill thousands of jobs. It would mean the end of hunting and fishing in Oregon, killing not only traditions and ending access to an essential source of food, but butchering natural resource-based industries that support hunting and fishing, she said.
As Oregons urban left pushes ever more radical policies, the divide with rural communities continues to widen, fueling efforts by some counties to explore joining neighboring Idaho. Voters will now decide whether to preserve a way of life rooted in self-reliance and responsible stewardship of the land, or to embrace a measure that many see as total madness and a direct assault on the freedoms that built the American West.
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