Animal rights activists want to effectively criminalize hunting, fishing and livestock husbandry and slaughtering in what could be Oregon’s only statewide initiative this fall.

It has not yet qualified to be on the November ballot — though it appears on track. On Thursday, organizers submitted their final batch of signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office, bringing the total to over 142,000 collected signatures.

But even the campaign’s own backers don’t think it’s likely to receive a majority “yes” vote, although they’re not giving up.

Initiative Petition 28, titled People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, would extend legal protections to animals beyond just cats and dogs. Insects wouldn’t count since they are not considered animals under Oregon law.

The initiative would remove exceptions for hunting, fishing and livestock husbandry and slaughtering from the state’s animal abuse law.

It would also set up a transition fund to help ranchers, for instance, with financial assistance or seek training for some other job. And it would prohibit people from owning an animal if they have been convicted of animal abuse.

Oregon elected officials, recreational hunting, fishing and agriculture groups have been quick to denounce the campaign — although they largely don’t think it has any chance of passing.

“I think that any time you propose an idea that is such a minority position, it’s going to be labeled as extreme,” said David Michelson, one of the campaign’s chief petitioners and an animal rights and vegan advocate. “I think that this is something that, if we want to succeed in the future, it will help if we start asking for it now.”

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Still, farm groups are taking it seriously, said Austin McClister, a spokesperson for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“You know the saying, don’t argue with stupid. We’re being forced to argue with stupid right now,” McClister said. “This is a serious conversation because it affects families all across Oregon. If you’re a farmer and you participate in animal agriculture, that means you lose your livelihood. It’s a serious issue, and so we have to respond to it seriously.”

Bipartisan opposition

In June, Oregon House Democrats issued a unanimous letter opposing the initiative, but that hasn’t stopped state Republicans from trying to connect them to the issue.

Republican gubernatorial nominee state Sen. Christine Drazan called it an attack by Gov. Tina Kotek’s “allies on Oregon’s economy and our way of life.”

Kotek, a Democrat who’s up for reelection this upcoming fall, is clear on her position.

“I oppose it,” she said in a Facebook post. “Criminalizing activities like hunting and fishing would be wrong for Oregon. I know Tribal leaders, family farmers and ranchers and Oregonians across the state who care deeply about protecting our land, waters and wildlife. This petition does nothing to help them.”

In Oregon, citizen ballot initiatives need more than 117,173 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Organizers have far exceeded that requirement, with signatures mostly from the Portland metro area, but also from Salem, Corvallis, Ashland and Bend, Michelson said.

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This is the third time organizers have tried to get this petition on the ballot. The first time, during the 2022 election cycle, organizers collected some 2,000 signatures. Then in 2024, they got roughly 40,000 signatures, Michelson said.

What has changed this time is the campaign is more organized and they have more money to spend.

They’ve received more than $300,000 in cash contributions and loans, according to state campaign finance records.

Unlikely funders

Some of that financial support has come from unlikely sources, such as a $35,000 contribution from a Leonid Postnov, a consultant from St. Petersburg, Russia, a billionaire Bitcoin investor, Owen Gunden, who contributed $25,000. And then there’s Amit Dhuleshia, a software engineer and animal rights activist from California who contributed a $25,000 loan.

Michelson acknowledged some of the contributions seem odd at first glance.

“It seems more ominous than it is, I think, because [Postnov] is in Russia,” Michelson said. “But he is just the father of someone in Oregon who was a volunteer for the campaign.”

Michelson said he met Dhuleshia at a Buddhist monastery. And he met Gunden, who’s supported similar grassroots animal rights campaigns in other states, at a vegan and animal advocacy conference.

The campaign also received about $30,000 from the Craigslist Charitable Fund and at least $20,000 from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA.

Michelson, a teacher, has himself contributed over $30,000 of his own money to the campaign.

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Though he doesn’t think the petition will pass if it makes it on the ballot, Michelson said, it least starts a conversation.

He compares the campaign to Oregon’s women’s suffrage movement, which went to the ballot six times until it finally passed in 1912, giving women the right to vote.

“Those organizers in their own writings and reflections of the movement, mentioned that simply forcing the conversation made it more likely to happen,” Michelson said. “So we want to do the same thing with animal rights. We want to start advocating for these legal protections specifically in the hopes that over time we will be able to both build a stronger base of supporters but also start to shift public opinion closer in this direction.”

Though organizers already have collected enough signatures to qualify, some are expected to be ruled ineligible and get tossed out. The Secretary of State’s office has until Aug. 2 to verify all the signatures and officially determine if the initiative will make it to the ballot.

About 15% of signatures have been rejected from ballot initiatives submitted in recent years, according to a spokesperson for the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/02/oregon-hunting-livestock-measure/