Well, turns out Oregonians aren’t quite ready to exchange their fishing rods and steak dinners for tofu and kumbaya just yet, according to a recent article via Outdoor Life.
A hyper-radical ballot initiative called the PEACE Act—which aimed to basically illegalize hunting, fishing, farming, pest control, and even animal research—officially bit the dust. The folks behind Initiative Petition 28 thought they had enough signatures to get on the November ballot, but the state election crew did the math, tossed out the duplicates, and found them about 13,000 signatures short of the finish line.
Honestly, the measure had a snowball’s chance in hell of actually passing anyway. It was so extreme it managed to do the impossible: get Oregon Democrats and Republicans to completely agree on something. Politicians from both sides of the aisle lined up to bash the proposal, which critics warned would have turned the state’s economy and culture entirely upside down.
Even the guy leading the charge, David Michelson, admitted he knew it wouldn’t pass this year. This is his third strike trying to get this off the ground, but he insists he’s playing the long game. He’s viewing this as a decades-long crusade to change hearts and minds, hoping to build a multi-state empire of animal rights activism. For now, though? The hunters, ranchers, and anglers of Oregon can breathe a sigh of relief. Common sense—and bacon—win this round.
(Feature image AI generated)
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