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Greg Cote, sports columnist for The Miami Herald, wrote last March
about the Iditarod, “The bizarre competition involves
65 ‘mushers,’ drivers along for the ride
as their slaves—16 dog teams, at least at the
start—do the hard labor, at times encouraged by
their masters’ whips.” He calls the race
“a grotesque shame masquerading as sport”
and explains that the abuse of the dogs constitutes
a violation of cruelty-to-animals statutes across the
United States.
USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno, who
refers to the Iditarod as “Ihurtadog,” has
called it an embarrassment, an outrage, and “a
travesty of grueling proportions.” In an article
published during the 2001 race, Saraceno wrote, “It’s
really shameful marketing carried out on the backs of
defenseless animals.” He also stated, “Injury
and death are Iditarod partners.”
Fox sportscaster Jim Rome has termed the Iditarod the
“I-killed-a-dog sled race” and pointed out
in an article following the completion of last year’s
race that two dogs died during the race and several
others were removed from the race because of injuries,
including a group of dogs who had been mangled by a
snow-making machine.
George Diaz, sports columnist for the Orlando Sentinel,
said of the Iditarod in a March 2000 article, “Although
the fluff coverage in the Anchorage Daily News
promotes the Iditarod as ‘Alaska’s great
race,’ it is nothing more than a barbaric ritual
that gives Alaskan cowboys a license to kill.”
In an article entitled “Iditarod’s Bone
of Contention Repels Some Marketers,” Bruce Horowitz
of USA Today calls the Iditarod a “public
relations minefield.”
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