Ask Associated Press to stop promoting cruel Iditarod

[Guest guest]

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

 

For the past two years, the Sled Dog Action Coalition has repeatedly asked

the Associated Press (AP) to include the animal protection viewpoint about

the Iditarod in its articles about the race. While publishing stories with

musher interviews, the AP in Alaska continues to ignore the animal protection

perspective. It does not publish interviews of anyone who is opposed to the

Iditarod.

 

On March 9, 10, 11, 2002, the AP in Alaska published the Iditarod's website

address without giving the address of any website with the opposing view. On

March 9, 2002 the AP wrote " Iditarod notes, " which publicized flares that

were donated to the Iditarod worth " $89.95 " a piece. This article discussed 4

separate topics related to the Iditarod but made no mention of the animal

protection point-of-view.

 

Please write to the Associated Press and ask it to end its one-sided

reporting about the Iditarod. A sample letter for you to personalize and

contact information are below:

 

Louis Boccardi, President and CEO

David Tomlin, Assistant to the President

Associated Press

50 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10020

Fax: 212-621-5456

Email: lboccardi, dtomlin

 

Sample letter to personalize:

 

Dear Mr. Boccardi and Mr. Tomlin:

 

The Associated Press in Alaska is writing one-sided articles about the

Iditarod dog sled race. In his March 5, 2002 article in the Miami Herald,

Greg Cote said the Iditarod is " America's most controversial sporting event,

if you'd call this ‘sporting' in any way. " Unfortunately, the AP in Alaska

writes as if no controversy existed. The Sled Dog Action Coalition has

repeatedly asked the Associated Press to include the animal protection

viewpoint about the Iditarod in its articles about the race. While publishing

stories with musher interviews, the AP in Alaska continues to ignore the

animal protection perspective. It does not publish interviews of anyone who

is opposed to the Iditarod. This is not good journalism, and I am appalled

that you have allowed this to continue.

 

On March 9, 10, 11, 2002, the AP in Alaska published the Iditarod's website

address without giving the address of any website with the opposing view. On

March 9, 2002 the AP also wrote " Iditarod notes, " which publicized flares

that were donated to the Iditarod worth " $89.95 " a piece. This article

discussed 4 separate topics related to the Iditarod but made no mention of

the animal protection point-of-view. Please stop promoting this horrific race.

 

The Iditarod forces dogs to run 1,150 miles, which is the approximate

distance between New York City and Orlando, over a grueling terrain in 9 to

14 days. 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. " The Iditarod is condemned by animal protection groups across the

United States.

 

The Sled Dog Action Coalition (SDAC) educates America about the exploitation

of sled dogs in Alaska's annual Iditarod dog sled race. The SDAC was profiled

in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/comment/saraceno/2001-03-05-saraceno.htm. To

read quotes about the Iditarod, please visit the SDAC's website page

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. 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, and the offenders would be subject to criminal prosecution.

 

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).

 

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. 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.

 

The Alaska SPCA opposes the Iditarod and has called for an end to the

breeding and culling (killing) of these dogs. Iditarod dogs are unhappy

prisoners with no chance of parole.

 

Please tell your readers the truth about the race.

 

Sincerely,