Jack Daniel’s Iditarod Sponsorship Comes Under Fire

At Annual Meeting, PETA Protesters Will Call for Parent Company to Drop Out of Deadly Dog Race

For Immediate Release:
July 26, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

What: Brandishing signs that proclaim, “Jack Daniel’s: Stop Supporting Cruelty,” PETA members will gather at the site of the annual meeting of the brand’s parent company, Brown-Forman, to demand that Jack Daniel’s end its sponsorship of the Iditarod.

When: Thursday, July 27, 8:30 a.m.

Where: Brown-Forman Conference Center, 850 Dixie Hwy., Louisville

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—is upset that the Iditarod forces dogs to run up to 100 miles a day across treacherous ice and in subzero temperatures. Five dogs died in less than a week during the 2017 Iditarod, and more than 150 dogs have been killed in the race’s history. Behind the scenes, dogs bred for racing are left chained up in the snow, and some are discarded or killed when they don’t make the cut.

“Jack Daniel’s should pull its funding for what is a death race for dogs,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the company to see that dogs aren’t snowmobiles but vulnerable animals who are subject to exhaustion, injuries, and accidents.”

Wells Fargo and State Farm recently ended their Iditarod sponsorships. Many other major brands—including Costco, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Ride Aid, and Safeway—cut ties with the race years ago.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.