From the Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org :
Iditarod race winner Libby Riddles (http://www.libbyriddles.com/links.htm )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,