Microsoft promotes cruel Iditarod dog sled race

[Guest guest]

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

 

Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, and other companies whose contact information

is listed below are sponsoring the 2001 Iditarod dog sled race or mushers who

participate in it. 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 see

pictures, read quotes and for more information.

 

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.

 

Please educate the companies listed below about the cruelties of the

Iditarod. A sample letter and contact information are provided below. A

complete list of the companies promoting the 2001 Iditarod can be found on

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

 

SAMPLE LETTER:

 

Dear

 

I understand your company is associated with the Iditarod, and 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 see

pictures, read quotes 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 115. 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.

 

Many Iditarod dogs have gastric ulcers and some have died from this

condition. Ulcers predispose the dogs to vomiting. Normally, the trachea

closes the airway so that foreign material does not enter the lungs. But

because these dogs run at such high speeds for such a long period of time,

they cannot stop gasping for air despite the vomiting. Consequently, dogs

inhale the vomit into their lungs which causes suffocation and death.

 

According to Michael Matz, a highly regarded expert in gastrointestinal

disorders in small animals, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

is the most common cause of gastrointestinal ulceration in small animals

(Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XII- Small Animal Practice). These drugs

reduce swelling, inflammation, relieve pain and fever, which allows the dogs

to run farther and faster. Unfortunately, some dogs pay with their lives for

the use of these drugs.

 

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,

 

 

MUSHER SPONSORS

 

Bill Gates, Chmn

Microsoft Corporation (PacWest Division)

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: (425) 882-8080

Fax: (425) 936-7329

Email: msft

 

John Pepper, Chmn

Iams/Procter & Gamble

One Procter & Gamble Plaza

Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513-983-1100

Fax: 513-983-9369

Email: shareholders.im

 

William M. Carpenter, Chmn

Bausch & Lomb

One Bausch & Lomb Place

Rochester, NY 14604-2701

Telephone: (716)338-6000

Fax: (716)338-6007

Email Message Box: http://bausch.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bausch/people

 

Perry Massie, Chmn

The Outdoor Channel (Global Outdoors, Inc.)

43445 Business Park Drive, Suite 113

Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: (800) 543-3760

Fax: (909) 699-4062

Email: betty

 

Nutro Products, Inc.

445 Wilson Way

City of Industry, CA 91744

Phone: 800-833-5330 (toll free)

Email message box: Click " Contact Nutro " http://www.nutroproducts.com

 

American Seafoods Company

Marketplace Tower

2025 First Avenue, Suite 900

Seattle, WA 98121

Phone: (206) 448-0300

Fax: (206) 448-0505

Email: info

 

Lon R. Greenberg, Chmn

AmeriGas (UGI Corporation)

460 N. Gulph Rd.

King of Prussia, PA 19406

Phone: 610-337-7000

Fax: 610-992-3259

Email: hr1

 

IDITAROD SPONSORS

 

Hermann J. Strenger, Chmn

Bayer Corporation

Werk Leverkusen 51368

Leverkusen, Germany

Phone: +49-214-30-58992

Fax: +49-214-307-1985

Email: alexander.rosar.ar1

 

Paul Hazen, Chmn

National Bank of Alaska (Wells Fargo & Company)

402 Montgomery Street

San Francisco, CA 94163

Phone: (800) 411-4932 (toll free)

Fax: 415-677-9075

Email message box: http://www.wellsfargo.com/ir/cgi/iraskus.cgi (Click:

Contact Us)

 

Joseph A. Pichler

Fred Meyer Stores (Kroger)

1014 Vine St.

Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513-762-4000

Fax: 513-762-1160

Email: investors

 

Regal Alaskan Hotel (Millennium & Copthorne Hotels)

CDL Hotels International Ltd

Singapore

Email: marketing

 

Maureen Bellantoni, CFO

Burger King (Diageo plc)

17777 Old Cutler Road

Miami, FL 33157

Phone: (305) 378-3000

Fax: (305) 378-3013

Email: mbellantoni

Email: investor.rel

 

Arthur C. Martinez, Chmn

Sears, Roebuck & Co.

3333 Beverly Road

Hoffman Estates, IL 60179

Phone: (847) 286-2500

Fax: (847) 286-7829

Email: sears

 

A complete list of the companies promoting the 2001 Iditarod can be found on

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