Pack of PETA ‘Dogs’ Protests London Hotel Over Sponsorship of Cruel Iditarod Dog Race
A pack of chained PETA “dogs” descended on the London headquarters of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc for a spirited protest against the hotel group’s support of the cruel Iditarod dog sled race. The company’s Anchorage hotel still sponsors the event, despite being aware that more than 150 dogs have died since the race began.
What Is the Iditarod, and How Do Dogs Suffer?
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race takes place in Alaska every year. During the event, exhausted, dehydrated dogs are forced to run hundreds of miles across icy terrain, often until their paws bleed. Hundreds of them are pulled out of the race every year because they’re too injured or ill to go on, and countless others die soon after the race – commonly from inhaling their own vomit, which has happened frequently. Yet more dogs perish during training or while chained outdoors around the clock during the off-season.
PETA US’ first-ever video exposé of kennels linked to the race reveals that at facilities operated by former Iditarod champion mushers, dogs’ only protection from the elements – even when the wind chill dropped to extremely cold temperatures – consisted of disintegrated, open-faced boxes or plastic barrels.
In the footage, dogs were seen chained and denied contact with one another. Many had worn-down, raw, and bloody paw pads from frantically running in tight circles at the end of short metal chains, and one dog at musher Mitch Seavey’s kennel was denied veterinary care for open, infected wounds caused by the constant chafing of his collar.
Other dogs left without veterinary care include one who sustained a crippling spinal cord injury that left her dragging her back legs and a former Iditarod champion with painful arthritis left to limp and cry at the end of a chain.
PETA US
Companies like Millennium & Copthorne Hotels are supporting this cruelty by sponsoring the Iditarod. PETA and our affiliates are urging these businesses to cuts ties with the event in order to bring us one step closer to stopping it altogether.
Coca-Cola recently ended its Iditarod sponsorship, adding its name to a long list of companies – including Costco, Jack Daniel’s, Nestlé, and Pizza Hut – that have cut ties with the race.
What You Can Do to Help Dogs
Never take a dog-sled ride, and don’t buy any holiday packages or excursions that include such rides or visits to dog kennels.
Please also urge Millennium Hotels and Resorts as well as Chrysler and Alaska Airlines to sever ties with the Iditarod immediately:
Want to use your voice to help end speciesism? Interested in taking part in our demonstrations? Join PETA’s Action Team now:
