ALERT: Weather Channel glamorizes Iditarod brutality

[Guest guest]

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

 

The Weather Channel just aired " WeatherQuest-Alaska, " a film in which the

Iditarod was described as " the superbowl and world series all rolled into

one, " and mushers were called " dog lovers. " Here are some facts about this

barbaric race--unlike many sled dog races, the Iditarod does not ban the use

of whips. On average, 50% of the dogs who start the Iditarod cannot make it

across the finish line, and the dogs who are not culled (killed) by mushers

live permanently tethered on 4 to 5 foot chains in their own fecal material.

 

Please write to Landmark Communications, the Weather Channel's parent

company, and the sponsors of this film, to demand that they stop promoting

and glamorizing this brutal race. Below you will find email addresses in

block form, a sample letter to personalize, and contact information listed by

corporation. If you are going to boycott, please say so.

 

Emails for Weather Channel (Landmark Communication) and the show's sponsors:

 

llewis,auditalk,corpcom,Investor_Relations_Fu

 

lfillment,Lois_Juliber,investors,firest

 

one_consumer_affairs,corporate.sales,manfred.gentz@dai

 

mlerchrysler.com,webinfo,kathi.seifert,john.sidgmore@w

 

com.com,info,Flooringamerica4,prsupport@carfax

 

..com

 

SAMPLE LETTER to personalize (If you are going to boycott, please say so):

 

Dear Mr. Anstrom and sponsors of the Weather Channel's " WeatherQuest-Alaska " :

 

I am outraged that you were involved in the promotion and glamorization of

the barbaric Iditarod dog sled race in the film " WeatherQuest-Alaska, " which

was produced by the Weather Channel. This race is condemned by animal lovers

and animal protection groups across the United States. Please stop supporting

this abusive race and all of 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 9 to 14 days, which is the approximate

distance between Orlando 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 117 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.

 

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 concentration-camp-like 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. Because he is 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.

 

Please end your company's association with the Iditarod dog sled race.

 

Sincerely,

 

Contact information for each corporation:

 

Decker Anstrom, CEO

Weather Channel (Landmark Communications, Inc.)

150 W. Brambleton Ave.

Norfolk, VA 23510

Fax: 757-446-2983

Toll Free: 800-446-2004

Email: llewis

 

Bernd Pischetsrieder, Chmn

Audi

Finanzanalytik und Publizität, I/FF-12

D-85045 Ingolstadt, Germany

Email: auditalk

 

Jeffrey Katz, CEO

Orbitz

200 South Wacker Drive

Chicago IL 60606

Phone: 312-894-5000

Fax: 312-894-5001

Email: corpcom

 

Michael S. Dell, CEO

Dell Computer Corporation

1 Dell Way

Round Rock, TX 78682-2222

Fax: 512-728-3653

Toll Free: 800-289-3355

Email: Investor_Relations_Fulfillment

 

Reuben Mark, CEO

Science Diet (Hills Pet Nutrition/Colgate Palmolive)

300 Park Ave.

New York, NY 10022

Phone: 212-310-2000

Fax: 212-310-3405

Email: Lois_Juliber

 

Tim Clarke, CEO

Holiday Inn Express (Six Continents, PLC)

20 N. Audley St.

London W1Y 1WE, UK

Phone: +44-20-7409-8153

Fax: +44-20-7409-8503

Email: investors

 

Shigeo Watanabe, CEO

Bridgestone Tires

10-1, Kyobashi 1-chome, Chuo-ku

Tokyo 104-8340, Japan

Email: firestone_consumer_affairs

 

 

Leon Gorman, Chmn

LL Bean

Casco St.

Freeport, ME 04033

Fax: 207-552-6821

Toll Free: 800-221-4221

Email: corporate.sales

 

Hilmar Kopper, Chmn

Dodge (Daimler Chrysler)

Epplestrasse 225

70546 Stuttgart, Germany

Email: manfred.gentz

 

Richard D. Fairbank, CEO

Capital One Financial Corp.

2980 Fairview Park Dr., Ste. 1300

Falls Church, VA 22042-4500

Phone: 703-205-1000

Fax: 703-205-1755

Email: webinfo

 

Thomas Falk, CEO

Kleenex Tissues (Kimberly-Clark Corp)

351 Phelps Dr.

Irving, TX 75038

Phone: 972-281-1200

Fax: 972-281-1490

Email: kathi.seifert

 

John Sidgmore, CEO

10-10-220 (Worldcom, Inc.)

500 Clinton Center Dr.

Clinton, MS 39056

Fax: 601-460-8269

Toll Free: 800-976-5326

Email: john.sidgmore

 

Alexandra Cousteau

Philippe Cousteau Foundation

PO Box 3719

Vero Beach, FL 32964-3719

Email: info

 

Flooring America

Email: Flooringamerica4

 

Carfax.com

10304 Eaton Place, Suite 500

Fairfax, Virginia 22030-2213

Email: prsupport

 

Stacker2.com (NVE Pharmaceuticals)

33 Newton-Sparta Road

Newton, NJ 07860

Phone: 1-800-526-4387

Fax:1-973-383-8379