DENVER — The only slaughterhouse in Denver survived a pro-animal group-led effort to shut it down that would have also prevented other similar facilities from opening in Denver as voters rejected Initiated Ordinance 309 on Tuesday.
Unofficial results from the Denver Clerk and Recorder showed 64.26% of voters were against the measure compared to 35.74% who were for it, with more than 307,000 ballots counted.
Denver’s Superior Farms is one of the largest lamb processing facilities in the U.S. and kills nearly a half million 6-month old lambs each year, according to Denver Decides.
It employs over 160 people, some of which have worked at the facility for decades.
“I actually started at Superior Farms on September 19, 2000, and the reason why we found out about Superior Farms is because my mom worked here before,” Isabel Bautista told Denver7 in September.
Bautista, who started at Superior Farms cleaning products and after 25 years became operations manager, has been fearful of what the election would mean for her job and that of her coworkers.