PLEASE
CROSSPOST
From the Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org:
Iditarod race winner Libby Riddles is glorifying the cruel Iditarod dog sled
race in talks on board Princess cruises. In its brochure, Princess asks
passengers to listen as Riddles "shares moments of her inspirational
quest."
Rather than being inspirational, the Iditarod is an example of the dark
underbelly of animal abuse and suffering that exists in Alaska. Living tethered
to four foot chains in their own waste, Iditarod dogs face a bleak existence
even when they are not racing. Some dogs have their vocal cords cut, and many
others are beaten and killed. Iditarod dogs are unhappy prisoners with no chance
of parole.
Please tell Princess that the Iditarod dog sled race is not inspirational and
should not be promoted.
EMAIL: rames@carnival.com, media@carnival.com
SAMPLE LETTER TO PERSONALIZE:
Dear Mr. Ames:
I understand that Iditarod winner Libby Riddles is promoting the Iditarod dog
sled race on board Princess cruises. Rather than being inspirational, the
Iditarod is an example of barbarism. Please stop promoting this cruel race and
the evils associated with it.
Mushers treat their dogs abominably. In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run
1,150 miles over a grueling terrain in 8 to 15 days, which is the approximate
distance between Miami and New York City. Dog deaths and injuries are common in
the race. USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno called the Iditarod "a
travesty of grueling proportions" and "Ihurtadog." Fox
sportscaster Jim Rome called it "I-killed-a-dog." Orlando Sentinel
sports columnist George Diaz said the race is "a barbaric ritual" and
"an illegal sweatshop for dogs." USA Today business columnist Bruce
Horovitz said the race is a "public-relations minefield."
Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website http://www.helpsleddogs.org
to see pictures, and for more information. Be sure to read the quotes on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm.
All of the material on the site is true and verifiable.
At least 120 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of dog
deaths available for the race's early years. In "WinterDance: the Fine
Madness of Running the Iditarod," Gary Paulsen describes witnessing an
Iditarod musher brutally kicking a dog to death during the race. He wrote,
"All the time he was kicking the dog. Not with the imprecision of anger,
the kicks, not kicks to match his rage but aimed, clinical vicious kicks. Kicks
meant to hurt deeply, to cause serious injury. Kicks meant to kill."
Causes of death have also included strangulation in towlines, internal
hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and
pneumonia. "Sudden death" and "external myopathy," a fatal
condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or
prolonged exercise, have also occurred. The 1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley,
was accused of striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal
claw). In 1996, one of Rick Swenson's dogs died while he mushed his team through
waist-deep water and ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both mushers from
the race but later reinstated them. In many states these incidents would be
considered animal cruelty. Swenson is now on the Iditarod Board of Directors.
In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by inmates
and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and died. Another
dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.
Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40 years,
tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:
"They've had the hell beaten out of them." "You don't just
whisper into their ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the
devil.' They understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into
submission the same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will
deny it. And you know what? They are all lying." -USA Today, March 3, 2000
in Jon Saraceno's column
Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing
Manual, "I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that
"‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'" "Nagging a
dog team is cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not
cruel at all but is effective." "It is a common training device in use
among dog mushers...A whip is a very humane training tool."
Mushers believe in "culling" or killing unwanted dogs, including
puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are
unwanted for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed
to death. "On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed
with baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in
harnesses....." wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush
Blade Newspaper (March, 2000).
Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, "He [Colonel
Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to
maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens.
Or dragging them to their death."
The race has led to the proliferation of horrific dog kennels in which the dogs
are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs and some have as many
as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their entire lives outside tethered
to metal chains that can be as short as four feet long. In 1997 the United
States Department of Agriculture determined that the tethering of dogs was
inhumane and not in the animals' best interests. The chaining of dogs as a
primary means of enclosure is prohibited in all cases where federal law applies.
A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he
sleeps, which conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his
living area.
Iditarod dogs are unhappy prisoners with no chance of parole. Please stop
promoting this cruel race.
Sincerely,