Voters will decide whether to ban slaughterhouses in Denver — a city with just one slaughterhouse, the Superior Farms lamb processing plant in Globeville.
The ban’s supporters argue slaughterhouses are inhumane to both animals and workers. They hope to use this measure to end what they call “mass scale animal slaughter” and to shut down the largest lamb processing facility in the country.
Opponents argue the measure is an attack on far more than Superior Farms. Many Colorado farmers, ranchers, and restaurateurs argue the economic costs could be devastating. And the measure could eliminate the jobs of around 160 workers, mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants employed at the Globeville factory.
Here’s the language you’ll see on your ballot:
“Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt an ordinance prohibiting slaughterhouses, and, in connection, beginning January 1, 2026, prohibiting the construction, maintenance, or use of slaughterhouses within the City; and requiring the City to prioritize residents whose employment is affected by the ordinance in workforce training or employment assistance programs?”
How would it work?
If I-309 passes, slaughterhouses could not be built, maintained or used in the city after Jan. 1, 2026.
Effectively, this targets just one facility, Superior Farms’ Globeville factory. The plant, which processes roughly 1,500 lambs a day, would be shut down and roughly 160 people, mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants, would be out of work. Roughly half a million lambs would presumably be slaughtered elsewhere yearly.
The measure would require that those displaced workers be prioritized in city workforce training and employment assistance programs, though how that would pan out would be uncertain.
The closure of the slaughterhouse would change the value of the land, and potentially reduce property tax revenues from the property. The city could also lose $20,000 in occupational privilege tax annually.
“The most pessimistic potential economic impact to the Colorado economy is a reduction of $861 million in current economic activity and 2,787 jobs after accounting for multiplier effects,” according to a Colorado State University study about the bill.
It’s unclear what agency would be enforce the ban, what penalties would be, or how much that would cost.
Who’s for it?
Pro Animal Future, registered in Boulder, is a group of voters, volunteers and donors who support animal rights ballot measures nationally.
“Slaughterhouses are inhumane to workers, animals, and the surrounding communities they pollute,” the group argues online.
The animal rights activists say ending the slaughterhouse will “halt mass-scale animal slaughter” and point to investigations at another Superior Farms factory that showed animal cruelty. Opponents of the slaughterhouse also point to Superior Farms’ violations of the Clean Water Act and “cruel working conditions.”
The ban is supported by 350 Colorado, the Oil & Gas Action Network, Impactful Animal Advocacy, Climate Save Movement, AnimalEquality, Friends of Animals, the Coalition to End Factory Farming, Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary, Animal Outlook and Planted.
The campaign for the ban, Pro-Animal Denver, has raised more than $244,000 for this initiative and Initiative 308, which bans sales of fur products, as of Sept. 30.. The largest funders are the Phauna Foundation, the Karuna Foundation and the Craigslist Charitable Fund.
The proponents got the measure on the ballot by collecting more than 30,000 signatures.
Who’s against it?
Opponents of I-309 argue it’s unfair for a law to target one employee-owned business, Superior Farms, and force 160 people out of their jobs.
“Banning one Denver business won’t improve animal welfare or the environment, but it will have devastating consequences for the economy and people who work at Denver’s only slaughterhouse,” opponents wrote in the city’s voter guide. “This is just the wrong approach.”
The company, opponents of the ban say, already treats animals humanely.
“Denver’s slaughterhouse produces Halal-certified meat, based on humane treatment throughout the entire lifecycle of the animal in accordance with Muslim religious traditions,” the opposition campaign argued. “A world-renowned animal welfare expert helped design the facility. USDA inspectors are on-site at all times, and the facility is routinely inspected by other independent animal welfare auditors from customers like Whole Foods.”
Workers whom Denverite spoke to at Superior Farms fear losing their jobs. They say they depend on the steady salaries, good benefits and retirement savings they’ve earned. And they don’t trust that city workforce training and job placement will pan out.
The largest campaign donor against the ban is the Meat Institute, a nonprofit trade organization that had contributed $250,000 as of Sept. 30. Superior Farms had contributed $160,228.80 to the opposition campaign, and numerous industry-related groups also contributed tens of thousands of dollars.
There are three committees working against the slaughterhouse ban: Stop the Ban. Protect Jobs; Hands Off My Hat Denver; and Local Food. Strong Denver. Together, they have raised more than $1.6 million, although some of that will go toward fighting the fur ban.
Previous Denverite coverage of Ballot Measure 309
Denverites will vote in 2024 on prohibiting the sale of fur and closing slaughterhouses in the city
