Disney making movie glorifying cruel Iditarod dog sled race

[Guest guest]

From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: http://www.helpsleddogs.org:

 

Disney is negotiating with Cuba Gooding Jr. to star in " WinterDance, " a film

which promotes the Iditarod dog sled race. Please tell Disney that the

Iditarod is cruel and should not be glorified. A sample letter and Disney's

email address are below.

 

Michael D. Eisner, Chmn

Disney Company

500 S. Buena Vista St.

Burbank, CA 91521-9722

Phone: 818-560-1000

Fax: 818-560-1930

Email message box: http://disney.go.com/mail/investorinfo/index.html

 

Sample Letter:

 

Dear Mr. Eisner:

 

I understand Disney is planning to film " WinterDance, " which glorifies the

Iditarod dog sled race. I would like to bring some facts to your attention.

This race is condemned by animal protection groups across the United States.

 

In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run 1,150 miles over a grueling terrain

in 9 to 14 days, which is the approximate distance between Denver and LA. Dog

deaths and injuries are common in the race. Jon Saraceno, sports columnist

for USA Today, called the race " Ihurtadog " and " an outrage. " Please visit the

Sled Dog Action Coalition website http://www.helpsleddogs.org to view kennel

pictures and for more information.

 

The Iditarod violates accepted standards regarding animal cruelty as is shown

by the laws of 38 states and the District of Columbia. These 38 states and

the District of Columbia have animal anti-cruelty laws that say " overdriving "

and " overworking " an animal is animal cruelty. The California law is typical:

 

" 597. Cruelty to animals. (B) Every person who overdrives, overloads, drives

when overloaded, overworks... any animal... is, for every such offense,

guilty of a crime punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively

punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than twenty

thousand dollars ($20,000). "

 

--Animal Welfare Institute, Animals and Their Legal Rights

 

The dog deaths and injuries in the Iditarod show that these dogs are

" overworked " and " overdriven. " If the Iditarod occurred in any of these 38

states or the District of Columbia, it would be illegal under the animal

cruelty laws. Unfortunately, the State of Alaska's animal anti-cruelty law

does not say that " overdriving " and " overworking " an animal is animal cruelty.

 

In almost all of the 27 Iditarod races, at least one dog death has occurred.

The first race is reported to have resulted in the deaths of 15 to 19 dogs.

In 1997, the Anchorage Daily News reported that " at least 107 (dogs) have

died. " In the three years since that report, seven more dogs have died in the

Iditarod, bringing the grand total of dogs who have died in the Iditarod to

at least 114. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the

race's early years and this count relies only on a reported number of deaths.

 

Causes of death during the last ten years have included strangulation in

towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury,

heart failure, and pneumonia. " Sudden death " and " external myopathy, " a

condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or

prolonged exercise, have also been blamed. In 1985 a musher kicked his dog to

death. The 1975 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was banned for life in 1990

after being accused of striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and

heavy metal claw). In 1996 Rick Swenson's dog died while he mushed his team

through waist-deep water and ice.

 

The race has led to the proliferation of husky dog kennels in Alaska. In

these kennels, many dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100

dogs and some have as many as 200. None of the kennels is inspected or

supervised by the State of Alaska or by anyone else.

 

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. Being close to his own to his own fecal material, a dog

can easily catch deadly parasitical diseases by stepping in or sniffing his

own waste.

 

In their kennels, the dogs are never given the opportunity to run free even

in a fenced in area. Many of them drink water from hard-to reach rusty cans

that are bolted to their doghouses and are rarely cleaned or disinfected.

 

Injured and old, arthritic dogs are kept outside in the winter when the

average daily minimum temperatures range from -24 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is painful for these dogs to be in the intense cold. Some dogs are never

bathed, and nothing is done to help them cool off no matter how hot it gets

in the summer. The only shade they get is inside their dirty doghouse, or

under their doghouse if they are lucky enough to have one that's raised off

the ground.

 

Some kennels have few employees, so that each dog gets little attention.

Mushers believe in " culling " or killing unwanted dogs. Dogs who are

permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, are

killed with a shot to the head.

 

Iditarod dogs are unhappy prisoners with no chance of parole. Please end your

company's association with the Iditarod dog sled race.

 

Sincerely,