The largest lamb slaughterhouse in the U.S. is in Denver — but maybe not for long.
Superior Farms processes between 15 and 20 percent of lambs killed for meat in the U.S. each year. Its vast Denver slaughterhouse, located for decades in the Globeville neighborhood — one of the poorest areas in the city, with over 90 percent Latino residents — advertises sustainable, locally sourced, halal-certified meat production and an employee-owned business model.
Now, though, animal rights advocates are trying to upend that carefully constructed image by releasing new disturbing footage, obtained surreptitiously on the slaughterhouse floor.
The investigators behind the exposé hope it will aid efforts to pass a ballot measure in next month’s election that would shutter the facility. Organizers with the grassroots group Pro-Animal Future managed to get the measure, which would ban slaughterhouses within city and county limits, on the city ballot.
Along with pointing to checkered labor and environmental records that have led to over $200,000 in fines for violations in the last decade, animal rights advocates want the revelations about the conditions at the slaughterhouse to encourage votes for the ballot initiative.
The slaughterhouse footage, captured in July and August by secret cameras snuck into the facility by anonymous members of the Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, network, was made public on Wednesday in a report by the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, or AALDP, at the University of Denver.
The videos may show a range of animal abuses, routine cruelties, and instances that legal experts with the AALDP say could violate animal cruelty and humane slaughter laws. (The DxE investigators work anonymously to avoid tangles with law enforcement for entering the slaughterhouse and filming without Superior Farms’ permission.)
Videos shared with The Intercept prior to the report’s public release show, among other scenes, lambs with their throats slit hanging upside down and thrashing on the slaughter line; one animal with an internal organ that has been torn inside-out and left dangling behind it as it heads to slaughter; injured lambs being led to slaughter; workers laughing, spanking animals, and engaging in simulated sex acts with nearby machinery as lambs are having their throats slit; and the apparent use of so-called Judas sheep — adult sheep kept alive at the facility and used to lead the young sheep to slaughter.
“In general, that’s what you can expect to see in a slaughterhouse,” said Eric Davis, a retired veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, who reviewed a video reel provided by the animal rights activists. “This one is on the edge of badness, but it’s not going to be that much better if it’s running well.”
If successful, the Denver ballot initiative, Ordinance 309, would end all these practices by prohibiting the construction or operation of slaughterhouses in the City and County of Denver.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Superior Farms, Bob Mariano, questioned whether The Intercept had verified that the footage was from the Denver location on the dates claimed by DxE. The Intercept was able to verify the dates from the footage’s time stamp. The Animal Activist Legal Defense Project attested to the veracity of the location, and footage taken by the investigators outside the facility aligns with images on Google Maps. The Intercept shared still frames from the obtained footage with Superior Farms and asked the company to confirm whether it showed their Denver facility. At the time of publication, the company had declined to identify the facility.
“Every workday, over 1,000 baby sheep have their throats slit at Superior Farms,” one of the investigators from DxE, who did not give their name, said by email. “This election cycle, Denver has a rare opportunity to put an end to this practice on an industrial scale within our city.”
The Superior Farms slaughterhouse is the only one currently operating in Denver’s city limits, so would be the only plant affected by Ordinance 309’s passing. The decision could, however, have lasting and profound effects on the animal agriculture industry nationwide.
Kenny Rogers, a past president of the Colorado Livestock Association, which has teamed up with Superior and others to opposing the ballot measure, told Denver’s Westword weekly paper, “Essentially, that’s the jugular vein of the sheep industry here in the state.”
The Superior Farms spokesperson said the company opposed the ballot measure in a bid to save its employees’ livelihoods.
“The slaughterhouse ban on the ballot in Denver this November (Initiated Ordinance 309) unfairly targets a single employee-owned business and forces 160 employees out of a company they own,” said Mariano. “Banning a single Denver business won’t improve animal welfare, but it will have devastating consequences for our employee-owners and their families.”
Conditions for Animals
According to a memo from the AALDP, the video clips showing lambs that appear to raise their heads and thrash could be evidence that the animals are not fully unconscious.
Davis, the former UC-Davis veterinarian and former associate veterinarian with the school’s International Animal Welfare Training Institute, said it was difficult to ascertain from the video whether the animals are stunned prior to slaughter. Either way, he said, the thrashing from lambs after having their throats slit does not necessarily indicate consciousness — something that would violate standards for humane slaughter.
“I would expect fewer of them moving than are,” he said. “The fact that they’re moving does not allow me to prove that they’re conscious.”
In one case, where a lamb that appeared to have its throat cut lifted its head and opened its mouth, Davis said there were concerns about consciousness.
“That animal looks like it’s vocalizing,” Davis said.
The animal that was intended to be killed is still alive and likely conscious or partially conscious. Mariano, the spokesperson for Superior Farms, stated, “We strongly deny these allegations, and this case was settled and dismissed two years ago.”
Despite this, some employees of Superior Farms are coming together to show support for the plant and the industry.
Isabel Bautista, the operations manager at the slaughterhouse, spoke out against a recent ballot measure, saying, “Superior Farms has provided opportunities for me and many others.” Bautista, who has been with the company since 2000, shared that her family members have also worked at the facility over the years.
She mentioned in an interview with a trade publication that the job at Superior Farms not only provides financial stability for her family but is also a job she loves.
Mariano added, “One in six of our staff members have been with Superior for over ten years, and one in four have been here for more than five years.” He emphasized that the meat industry, like many others, faces challenges related to turnover.
Supporters of Ordinance 309 are facing challenges as opponents claim the ballot measure threatens local jobs and is supported by outside special interest groups. The Denver Democratic Party and key unions have also come out against the initiative.
Animal rights activists believe that passing Ordinance 309 is crucial to ending cruel practices and unsustainable meat production. They are focused on exposing violations of humane slaughter and animal cruelty laws to support the facility’s closure.
Chris Carraway, a staff attorney at the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, emphasized the need to end inhumane practices in factory farming and slaughterhouses.
The undercover investigator, who remains anonymous, expressed optimism about people’s ability to empathize with the suffering of animals but acknowledged the challenges in changing behaviors and attitudes towards cruelty. Can you please rewrite this sentence for me?
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