Alert: Sports Illustrated Woman glamorizes brutal Iditarod dog sled race

[Guest guest]

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

 

Sports Illustrated Women featured an article about a woman Iditarod musher in

its December/January 2003 issue. Instead of describing the barbarism of the

deadly Iditarod dog sled race, the author likened the Iditarod to a poem

about heroic deeds with the mushers as the heroes. Women who abuse animals

should not be glorified or held up as role models. Please ask the Editor in

Chief of Time, Inc. not to publish articles that glorify the Iditarod. The

email address and a letter for you to personalize are below.

 

EMAIL: AOLTimeWarnerIR

 

Sample letter to personalize:

 

Dear Mr. Pearlstine:

 

The December/January 2003 issue of Sports Illustrated Women featured an

article glorifying a woman Iditarod musher. The Iditarod dog sled race is

condemned by animal lovers and animal protection groups across the United

States. Please do not publish articles that promote the Iditarod and the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 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. "

 

Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website

http://www.helpsleddogs.org and be sure to read the quotes on

http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm.

 

At least 119 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of

dog deaths available for the race's early years. Causes of death 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 fatal condition in which a dog's muscles and organs

deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also occurred..

 

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. "

 

Please do not publish articles that promote or glorify this cruel race.

 

Sincerely,