Denver slaughterhouses and fur bans are driven by madness

Denver voters can reject two misguided ballot measures and send a strong message to animal welfare advocates that Colorado will not bully our breeders and hat makers into stopping them.

Initiated Ordinance 308 would prohibit the sale of new fur textile products such as mink fur coats and beaver pelt hats within city limits and Initiated Ordinance 309 would prohibit slaughterhouses from operating within the city limits.

Both orders were proposed by animal rights advocates who are part of a national movement to end the slaughter of all animals in the United States, whether for fur coats or for food .

We categorically disagree with the premises underlying this movement. Killing animals for food and clothing is not cruel in itself. However, we have seen disturbing evidence across the United States of animal cruelty on chicken, pig, cattle and sheep farms, ranches and slaughterhouses.

So the question arises: Is Denver’s only slaughterhouse — a lamb processing facility called Superior Farms in the Globeville neighborhood — guilty of animal abuse?

So far we have seen no evidence of mistreatment.

Aidan Kankyoku of Pro-animal Future points to a 2019 undercover investigation into a Superior Farms lamb slaughterhouse in California as evidence that the Globeville facility is guilty of animal cruelty. The video of the slaughter of adult lambs is difficult to watch. Animals struggle after having their throats slit and struggle to survive as they bleed out for several minutes, but this has been the harsh reality of animal slaughter for all of human existence.

Facilities in California and Colorado use high-powered electric stun guns to stun animals before slitting their throats. Kankyoku says reports from slaughterhouses across the country show that stunning is often ineffective and animals suffer needlessly by bleeding to death.

But there is no evidence that the Superior Farms facility in Globeville is guilty of failing to properly stun the animals. This establishment is not on the list of “worst offenders” slaughterhouses. Closing this slaughterhouse makes no sense unless you agree with the principle that Americans should not eat meat because killing animals is an unnecessary evil. Killing animals is difficult and horrible, but it is a necessary part of the animal food chain.

Americans should demand that the U.S. Department of Agriculture improve and enforce the Humane Slaughter Act. Kankyoku, who lives in Denver, said animal welfare advocates have for decades called for small changes, like unannounced inspections, and bigger changes, like banning high-speed slaughter, so that workers can take their time and reduce their suffering. Their plea yielded nothing.

That frustration spilled over into a ballot measure that would close a facility that likely treats its animals as humanely as possible, given that the goal is to kill the hundreds of animals that arrive each day as quickly as possible and to transform their skin and meat into usable pieces for distribution around the world.

But the facility also provides stable, good-paying jobs to approximately 160 people directly and supports Colorado ranchers who bring their livestock to the facility from across the state. The property supplies lamb to local restaurants and grocery stores. Colorado lambs are shipped further away only to be reshipped because the meat would be worse for the environment and the economy. Would the treatment of these lambs be better in another establishment? Superior Farms developed its animal slaughter process with consultation from Temple Grandin of Colorado State University, who is a known animal rights advocate.

Maybe Superior Farms needs to slow down its rate of processing animals, but there’s certainly no need to shut it down.

At the same time, the fur ban follows a successful social movement that began with civil disobedience in New York in 1985. Today, very few people wear fur, and even fewer buy fur products. luxury new fur. Neiman Marcus stopped selling fur clothing in 2023.

We are concerned, however, that this fur ban in Denver will have no discernible impact on Louis Vuitton and other couture boutiques that may simply move outside the city limits, but will impact people like Coleen Orr. Orr makes cowboy hats from beaver pelts and the products could no longer be shipped through Denver to his store in Adams County.

Simply put, we do not approve of the fur industry, but we also do not approve of the anti-farming message rooted in the fur ban.

Please vote no on these two ballot measures to support Colorado’s western roots.