Oregon has an opportunity to lead the nation toward a more humane future.

Initiative Petition 28, known as the PEACE Act, asks a simple but profound question: should animals be protected from abuse and killing under the law, not just pets, but all animals capable of suffering? Today, Oregon’s cruelty laws protect dogs and cats while carving out sweeping exemptions that allow other animals to be harmed, killed, or exploited without consequence.

The PEACE Act would remove those exemptions.

This initiative does not criminalize compassion or medical care. It preserves exceptions for self-defense and veterinary treatment. What it does is challenge the assumption that killing animals for food, recreation, research, or convenience should be legally untouchable simply because it has always been done.

Animals raised for food, hunted for sport, or used in laboratories experience fear, pain, and distress just as companion animals do. Recognizing that reality is not radical. It is honest.

Supporters of the PEACE Act acknowledge that Oregon’s economy and culture have long relied on animal use. That is why the initiative includes a transition fund to support job retraining, income replacement, and food assistance. Change should be thoughtful and humane, not punitive.

Every major moral shift in history was once called unrealistic. Ending child labor. Granting women the right to vote. Expanding civil rights. None happened because a majority was immediately comfortable. They happened because people were willing to say that causing harm, even when normalized, is still wrong.

This petition calls on Oregon voters to support Initiative Petition 28 and take a meaningful step toward reducing suffering in our society. We can choose innovation over violence, compassion over tradition, and progress over complacency.

If you believe animals deserve legal protection from cruelty and killing, add your name and support the PEACE Act.