The campaign behind a ballot initiative to criminalize hunting, fishing, and any intentional injury to animals in Oregon submitted over 120,000 signatures as of May 20.
The initiative, referred to by the sponsors as the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions (PEACE) Act, would amend Chapter 167 of the Oregon Revised Statutes to remove certain exemptions to animal cruelty laws. The measure would criminalize:
- Hunting, fishing, and trapping of animals;
- Slaughter of any animal for food;
- Actions currently protected as good animal husbandry in existing state law (e.g., dehorning cattle, docking livestock, and castration or neutering of livestock);
- Commercial poultry operations;
- Any farming practice that causes physical injury, stress, or fails minimum care standards established by the initiative;
- Certain wildlife management practices (e.g., culling programs, invasive species control, predator management); and
- Setting mousetraps, pest extermination, or rodent control if it causes physical injury or death to a protected animal.
