OLYMPIA -- Washington voters will decide this fall whether the state should crack down on people who traffic in endangered animals.

Initiative 1401 has more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, the Secretary of State's office said Wednesday afternoon. Supporters had turned in about 100,000 more signatures than the minimum needed to qualify for the ballot, and the random check of signatures chosen by a computer showed an error rate of about 14 percent, which is lower than the average of 18 percent in recent years.

If approved by voters, the initiative would outlaw the sale of a wide array of protected animal species, or their parts, including elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers and other large felines, marine turtles, sharks and rays. Sale of the animals or their parts would be a gross misdemeanor or felony, depending on the circumstances. 

The campaign committee has raised some $2 million, most of it from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and spent $1.5 million so far, mostly on paying people to collect signatures.

 

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