Tell Chrysler and Others to Stop Sponsoring Cruel, Deadly Iditarod
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
April 2019

ACTION

During the 2018 Iditarod, a total of 350 dogs were pulled off the trail, likely because of exhaustion, illness, or injury. One of those dogs, Blonde, later died from aspiration pneumonia—probably as a result of inhaling his own vomit. More than 150 dogs have died in the race's history—not counting those who were killed because they lacked the speed and stamina to make the cut.

But a handful of companies are still sponsoring this death race, including Chrysler, Donlin Gold and its parent companies—Barrick Gold Corporation and NOVAGOLD Resources, Inc.— GCI, and Matson.

Please send e-mails to the following executives urging them to end their support of the Iditarod:

GCI CEO Ronald Duncan
[email protected]

Matson CEO Matthew J. Cox
[email protected]

Then, SIGN THIS FORM to ask Chrysler and Donlin Gold and its parent companies—Barrick Gold Corporation and NOVAGOLD Resources, Inc.— to sever their ties with this abusive race, in which dogs are run to their deaths.

INFORMATION

These puppies, seen chewing on Pedialyte-soaked sponges, later reportedly die.

After the 2017 race, a whistleblower came forward with disturbing photographs and video footage that reveal apparently dying puppies and injured, sick dogs at a kennel reportedly owned by Dallas Seavey, the four-time Iditarod champion who was implicated in a dog-doping scandal last year. According to the whistleblower, operators at the Willow, Alaska, kennel allowed severely injured and ailing dogs to suffer—sometimes fatally—without veterinary care.

This follows a veteran musher's revelation that she believes that some trainers—including those at Seavey's kennels—have killed "hundreds on top of hundreds or more dogs" because they were deemed slow or otherwise unfit for races. She wrote, "Sadly, this has been going on in the family 'dynasty' for decades."

This is how sled dogs were warehoused for 40+ years in the mountains of Colorado

Dogs in the Iditarod are forced to run nearly 1,000 miles—roughly the distance from Orlando, Florida, to New York City—in under two weeks. On average, they must run 100 miles a day, with only a few brief periods of rest. They're subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures. Their feet become bruised, bloodied, cut by ice, and just plain worn out because of the vast distances that they cover. Many pull muscles, incur stress fractures, or are afflicted with diarrhea, dehydration, intestinal viruses, or pneumonia. Up to half the dogs who start the race don't finish.

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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