In the early days of the colonies and the republic, hunting and fishing were matters of survival. Gathering one’s own food has always been a human imperative. Through our intelligence and ability to create and use weapons, we’re the apex predators of this world. But that’s a tradition, necessity, and satisfaction that seems to no longer matter to those ruling Oregon:
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Initiative 28, called “Peace Act” (not a typo), would, according to the Oregon Hunters Association, “remove legal exemptions protecting hunting, fishing, trapping, and farming from Oregon’s animal abuse statutes — turning nearly one million Oregonians into criminals.”
Under this initiative, one could not even use a mousetrap.
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 of Initiative 28, the “Peace Act,” an acronym standing for People for Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, would make it illegal to hunt, fish, or get rid of pests such as mice, rats, moles, or gophers in Oregon.
The organizers needed 117,173 signatures and just crossed that threshold this week. The Secretary of State’s offices will verify the signatures to determine how many of those are legitimate. Heh.
The author is laughing because she expects Oregon to verify enough signatures, whether they exist or not, and preferably not. Obviously, she understands Oregon politics. In this case, animals might end up voting, probably by mail. It’s amazing that the authors of this abomination exempted self-defense.
There’s so much wrong with this it’s difficult to know where to start, but the obvious point, which will affect even Oregon’s cities, is vermin control. This measure would allow vermin of all kinds to reproduce at catastrophic levels, potentially spreading diseases like the Bubonic Plague, which devastated Europe, and the Hantavirus, which Democrats are trying to use as a substitute for COVID. Coincidence? They really liked that kind of power.
The potential damage uncontrolled populations of gophers and moles will do to property scarcely needs to be mentioned—at least by the sane.
Proper management is also a vital restraint on animal populations. Failing to keep those populations in check through regulated hunting will result in disease, mass starvation, and enormous damage to habitats and private property, particularly to the farms that produce the food necessary even for the self-imagined intellectually and morally superior residents of Oregon. Fish populations left unchecked will quickly damage lakes and waterways.
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Let’s not even think about uncontrolled venomous snake populations.
One can only imagine—in nightmares—what animal rights cracktivists would do to farms and ranches. Uncontrolled legions of predators would force ranchers and farmers to shoot them to preserve their flocks, but that appears to be illegal under the proposed law. Do they really want to see the throats of innumerable baby animals torn out by predators, their little bodies partially eaten alive? Have they thought that through, or, worse, perhaps they have and want to see farmers and ranchers run out of business to return the land to what they think is a pristine, untouched-by-man state?
The law would also seem to prevent farmers and ranchers from the necessary practices evolved over centuries, which produce sufficient meat to feed the country. They almost certainly wouldn’t be able to tag or brand cattle, nor would they be likely to feed them efficiently.
Graphic: X Post
The ability to hunt, passed down by families over generations, if outlawed, would leave us essentially helpless, fearful drones, dependent on the state, which is surely at least part of what the drafters of the law intend. For millennia, families have strengthened family bonds and taught essential lessons about honor and the duty toward animals mankind ought to have. Spending time in the outdoors hunting and fishing builds respect for the natural world and its preservation, unimaginable to city dwellers and their moral posturing.
Graphic: X Post
Licensing fees for hunters and fishermen protect and preserve animal populations and habitats. Without those fees, additional taxes would have to be levied—another coincidence?–unless they intend to let nature do as it will. See the previous paragraph about disease and starvation.
The Democrat rulers of Oregon have come up with some disastrous policies, but in this case, they’ve gone absolutely nuts. Perhaps when they’re overrun by squirrels, raccoons, and bears shredding their property and strewing trash everywhere, and deer eating their trees and plants, they might reconsider. Better yet, they might reconsider before then.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
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