Frequently Asked Questions

It’s no secret animals don’t want to die and suffer greatly in slaughterhouses. Many Americans feel deep misgivings about killing animals for food, especially because of the horrors of modern factory farming and the increasing availability of alternatives. Yet, we’ve felt powerless to create change just as individuals. By acting together as citizens and voters, we can accelerate society’s transition to a more humane food system, one that protects humans and animals alike.

Slaughterhouses are not only bad for animals, but bad for workers, bad for neighborhoods, and bad for our environment:

• The psychological impact of slaughterhouse employment includes higher rates of depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and low self-esteem. Injuries and amputations are alarmingly high. Slaughterhouse workers sell their soul so that we don’t have to think about the animals our meat comes from. No one should have to kill innocent lambs all day just to pay the bills.
• Slaughterhouses are disproportionately staffed by people of color and found in lower-income neighborhoods, such as the historically immigrant and mostly Latino neighborhood of Globeville that is home to Denver’s slaughterhouse. Globeville residents have suffered a lot from industrial pollution and unequal city planning. Our early conversations with community representatives suggest there will be a lot of support for swapping the slaughterhouse with greener, more community-friendly use of the land.
• Raising animals for food greatly contributes to climate change, with animal-free meats emitting 30 to 90% fewer greenhouse gases than traditional meats. The UN has declared a climate emergency, and we need to do everything in our power to mitigate global warming and extreme weather events before things get worse. Closing Denver’s lamb slaughterhouse is a way we can unite as voters in support of a more sustainable future.

Banning slaughterhouses in our city will be a groundbreaking step in the right direction. We will send a strong message across the nation that slaughterhouses do not have a place in the peaceful future we are creating.

Denver once had many slaughterhouses, but now there is just Superior Farms. Slaughtering over 1,000 baby lambs per day or 500,000 a year according to a 2016 industry source, Superior Farms in Denver is among the country’s two largest lamb slaughterhouses. It’s located in 80216, which has been rated the most polluted residential zip code in the United States.

According to OSHA reports, there have been multiple serious injuries, including amputation, at the Denver slaughterhouse in recent years. This is the gruesome reality of the slaughter industry. The Guardian has reported there being two amputations a week nationwide.

Superior Farms has been sued for violating the Humane Slaughter Act. Animal Outlook’s undercover investigation at their other location in Dixon, California revealed lambs being kicked and thrown. Others struggled in pain long before they died. Superior Farms’ claims of being “humane” are hollow, as no animal consents to having their throat slit and the Denver public has no way of seeing what goes on inside.

It’s time we evolve away from allowing such routine cruelty to exist in our food system. If Denver passes the proposed law to close down slaughterhouses, Superior Farms would cease operations by January 1, 2026.

Blueprint Denver is a guiding document, not set in stone. But Globeville residents we’ve spoken with generally favor this transition from industrial uses to a mixed-use community center. Globeville is a neighborhood whose historically immigrant and largely Latino residents have been horribly mistreated by industrial pollution and unequal city planning. Those who live here need to be given the steering wheel to self-determine how their neighborhood evolves. Based on positive feedback we got from Globeville representatives when considering this ballot measure, we believe it gives a step forward for both animal rights and community health.

We wish there were language in our ballot measure to ensure the parcel of land now occupied by Superior Farms becomes affordable housing or something else in line with the aspirations of the community. Unfortunately, legal limitations on ballot measures prevented us from doing so. After this measure passes, we hope to work with community organizations and Denver City Council to ensure the land is used appropriately.

We would love to hear from residents or local advocacy groups with your thoughts, concerns, or opportunities to unite for a better Denver. We want clean air and affordable houses, not slaughterhouses!

Plant-based populations have longer lifespans with less heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, but eating animal-free comes with special nutritional considerations. The American Dietetic Association calls well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets healthful and nutritionally adequate for all life stages, citing the data on how a balanced lifestyle with supplementation can provide plenty of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, and vitamins D and B12. There are many different plant-based eating styles to find what works best for the individual, and we recommend resources like VeganHealth.org and NutritionFacts.org for evidence-based advice. If you or someone you know struggled to eat animal-free in today’s world, it’s not their fault, and it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t thrive in a pro-animal future. Imagine how much easier health will be when:

• Eating animal-free is the normal, common-sense, and celebrated thing people do. It is no longer a learning curve or a separate identity, but uniting. A sense of community and normalcy is important for our health!
• Medical professionals are well-educated on whole-food, plant-based nutrition. The knowledge is far more advanced and customized than it was before.
• Restaurants, groceries, and family feasts overflow with culturally diverse, tasty, and nutritious foods made from every kind of fruit, vegetable, legume, grain, nut, seed, mushroom, herb, and spice.
• Instead of subsidizing animal ag, the government helps healthy animal-free nutrition be affordable and accessible for all communities. No more food deserts! No more paying extra to avoid eating a friend!
• Transitioning to a more plant-based food system has significantly cut emissions and helped us survive the climate crisis—saving the health of our planet on which all of our individual health depends.

It is also possible that cultivating meat from animal cells, now in its baby stages, will let future generations eat animal flesh without having to butcher anyone. By opposing slaughterhouses, we can accelerate society’s investment in a future that respects our fellow earthlings. Animals suffering in factory farms and slaughterhouses can’t wait. They need our political support now so we can commit to innovating a nonviolent food system for all.

Hunting, fishing, and farming animals have contained beautiful elements—they are a form of connection with nature, the skill involved is extraordinary, and it’s how we have fed our communities and survived. However, the suffering that animals go through each time is very ugly and urgent for them. We have long recognized that these sensitive beings, like us, have their own life stories and a need to avoid suffering. In a thought piece on intergenerational trauma, Eva Hamer suggests that the past hardship of having to hurt animals may feed into the attachment we still feel towards meat. With empathy for both ourselves and the animals, we can evolve together.

To give an example of the pro-animal transformation we seek, take Gary Paulsen, the celebrated American novelist. His novel Hatchet tells the story of a 13-year-old who has to learn survival skills, including hunting, after crash-landing in the wilderness. In one of his novels’ epilogues and on NPR, Gary explained that he wrote from his own experience hunting as a boy. However, he eventually quit, and he even stopped eating meat. Killing animals no longer felt correct to him.

We invite our fellow Americans, like Gary Paulsen did, to honor the lived experiences of subsistence hunters (and farmers) while also seeing things from the animals’ point of view. In today’s world, we can support a future of abundant harvest, where we refrain from unnecessarily harming animals. A shift to a plant-based food system is now more important than ever, because our large world population requires factory farming, overfishing, or an unsustainable amount of grazing for us to routinely eat animals.

If you have a personal connection to hunting, trapping, or animal farming, and desire a world beyond slaughterhouses and fur, we would love to hear from you. You may also be interested in resources like the Rancher Advocacy Program, started by former cattle ranchers who had a change of heart about animals and now operate Rowdy Girl Sanctuary.