Attorneys representing anonymous animal rights activists on Wednesday released edited video footage filmed by their clients that they allege shows criminal mistreatment of lambs inside Denver’s only existing slaughterhouse.
The same facility — the Superior Farms lamb processing plant in north Denver’s Globeville neighborhood — is the focus of a measure on the city’s ballot in the Nov. 5 election.
Initiated Question 309 would ban slaughterhouses in city limits and shut down the Superior Farms plant, which represents 20% of all the lamb processing capacity in the U.S.
At a news conference held at an animal sanctuary in Adams County on Wednesday, Chris Carraway and Justin Marceau, both attorneys with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver’s Strum College of Law, detailed the conduct they observed in the footage that they say is criminal. That included animals with broken legs being dragged up ramps, animals with clear injuries not receiving help, and workers kicking and hitting animals with paddles.
They also allege some slaughter methods documented in the footage violated halal practices, the religious doctrine for how Muslins prepare food.
“Today, with this, the release of this footage, we have, I think, shone some really bright light into a dark area of Denver that is where we kill sheep for money,” Marceau said. “The footage I’ve seen exposes the lie that there was no illegal activity at this slaughterhouse.”
Carraway claimed the footage, filmed in the last few months, demonstrated violations of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
In a statement Wednesday, Bob Mariano, a spokesman for Superior Farms, did not dispute that the footage was filmed at the Globeville slaughterhouse. But he denied that it showed anything illegal and blasted the activists for illegally filming in the facility and sitting on the footage for months for the sake of swaying voters.
“This is yet another example of proponents of the slaughterhouse ban misunderstanding or misrepresenting standard, legally compliant parts of the slaughter process in an attempt to shock voters and influence an election,” Mariano said. “This is not the first time our workers have been attacked by activist groups falsely claiming that illegally obtained footage shows things that it simply does not.”
A spokesperson for Pro-Animal Future, the animal rights group behind the slaughterhouse ban and a companion measure, Initiated Ordinance 308, which seeks to ban the manufacture and sale of fur products in the city, also spoke at Wednesday’s event.
That spokeswoman, Natalie Fulton, said the footage does not represent an isolated incident, but offers “a glimpse into the dark reality of our food system.”
No law enforcement agency or regulatory body reviewed the footage ahead of Wednesday’s release. Marceau said it is his intention to refer it to the Denver District Attorney’s Office. He noted he aims to shield his clients from prosecution over how they obtained the footage.
A spokesperson for the Denver District Attorney’s Office did not reply to a message seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.
The campaign against Initiated Ordinance 309 has described the measure as an attempt by extremist animal rights activists to use the power of the state to crush a single business they don’t like. There are 160 people, primarily Latinos, who work at the facility. Superior Farms is employee-owned.
In a statement Wednesday, Ian Silverii, the spokesman for the Stop the Ban. Protect Jobs. campaign, called the footage the latest attempt by out-of-state groups to intimidate the workers at the plant who have spoken out against Initiated Ordinance 309.
“They want to do all they can to embarrass workers in the media,” he said.
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