The 2025 Iditarod Is Another Grueling Race for Dogs

The 2025 Iditarod will cause immense suffering—just like the races before it, during which more than 150 dogs have died. Last year’s Iditarod was one of the deadliest in recent years: Three young dogs—Henry, George, and Bog—collapsed and died on the trail. More than 200 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, or injury, pushing the remaining ones even harder to haul the mushers through treacherous terrains.

This year’s grueling race will be the longest mileage since 2009, stretching approximately 1,128 miles. Only 33 mushers are signed up for the 2025 Iditarod, tying the record for the smallest field of competitors in the race’s history. With sponsors dropping and dogs dying, the race is in dire straits.

PETA is calling for the Iditarod to be permanently canceled and for its remaining sponsors to cut ties with it. Stay tuned for breaking updates from the 2025 Iditarod and PETA’s protests against the event.

Update (March 17, 2025): PETA’s Postmortem on the 2025 Death Race’s Cruelty to Dogs

Now that another deadly Iditarod is over and Jessie Holmes has been crowned the “winner,” PETA is tallying up the cruelties from this year’s race.

2025’s Iditarod Killed Pregnant Dog Ventana

A four-year-old pregnant dog named Ventana died after musher Daniel Klein forced her to run over 300 miles. PETA is urging the Alaska State Troopers to launch a criminal investigation into her death, which we believe violates Alaska’s cruelty-to-animals statute and isn’t exempt from prosecution despite improper carve-outs for the dog sledding industry. Running a pregnant dog is also a violation of the Iditarod’s rules.

Iditarod Officials Attempted to Cover Up Jett’s Medical Emergency

Iditarod officials tried to conceal a medical emergency involving a dog named Jett, who was pulled from the race after being forced to run by Brenda Mackey. Jett collapsed on the trail and required emergency veterinary care—despite an Iditarod veterinarian giving her a clean health bill the night before. When Mackey returned to a checkpoint with Jett in the sled bag, the Iditarod livestream cut audio and panned away. Officials then published a news release claiming that “Mackey had 14 dogs in harness when she arrived in Tanana, all in good health”—a blatant lie that Mackey herself exposed as untrue on social media. The Iditarod later released another statement walking back its lie.

Hank Fell Through Ice, and Another Dog Tore Their Achilles Tendon

A dog named Hank, used by musher Mille Porsild, reportedly fell through the ice into a freezing river and was dragged because Porsild did not halt the rest of the dogs. Musher Jeff Deeter noticed “some lameness” among the dogs pulling his sled but forced some of them to continue running to get himself to the next checkpoint. Deeter ultimately scratched, but not before several dogs endured various injuries, including one dog who suffered a partially torn Achilles tendon. Mushers can call for help at any time to avoid further suffering, but Deeter chose to force the dogs to run anyway.

Dogs Forced to Race Through Sandstorm and Other Harsh Weather on Longest Trail in Decades

Following backlash from mushers and fans concerned about dangerous trail conditions, officials moved the restart location from Willow to Fairbanks—after initially failing to take any action to protect the dogs from the dangers posed by the lack of snow. Mushers were apparently silenced on this issue, again highlighting the Iditarod’s use of gag rules to attempt to avoid criticism and conceal information that would be damaging to the race’s reputation (see Rule 53). The location change increased the length of the race to approximately 1,128 miles, the longest since 2009.

In addition to the added distance, dogs experienced grueling trail conditions and harsh weather—including a sandstorm that caused mushers to get lost. More than 180 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, forcing the remaining ones to work even harder to pull the mushers.

Dogs Don’t ‘Win’ the Iditarod—Most Get Chained in Barren Yards After the Race

And the misery is far from over for the dogs who survived the race—they’re being sent back to the barren yards where most will be chained to dilapidated wooden boxes or plastic barrels with just a few square feet in which to eat, sleep, and relieve themselves. Many of them will suffer from stomach ulcers and airway dysfunction similar to “ski asthma,” and more than 80% will likely sustain persistent lung damage.

This year’s race was tied for the smallest field of mushers in history, indicating that the Iditarod is declining in popularity even among long-time participants. Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Jack Daniel’s, and Wells Fargo have all dropped their support for the race after hearing from PETA, which is calling on Alaskan Brewing Company and Providence to follow suit.

Update (March 14, 2025): First Musher Crosses the Finish Line, But No Dog ‘Wins’ the Iditarod

The first musher to cross the 2025 Iditarod finish line, Jessie Holmes, won the cruel race and he’s also earned a top spot among the infamous Iditarod’s dog abusers.

Is Iditarod Winner Jessie Holmes Cruel to Dogs?

Jessie Holmes’ trek to the finish line was filled with anguish and misery for the dogs hauling his sled. Six of them were pulled from the race after Holmes pushed them beyond their breaking point, leaving the remaining ten exhausted dogs to work even harder. Back at his kennel, he’ll thank them all by chaining them up like bicycles when not subjecting them to cruel ‘training’ practices, like hauling a large metal carriage through neck-deep floodwaters.

The Death Race Isn’t Over Yet: 1 Dog Dead and 160+ Pulled from Race

After Ventana, a pregnant four-year-old dog, collapsed and died along with her unborn puppies on the trail last week after being forced to run for more than 300 miles, PETA called on the Alaska State Troopers to launch an immediate criminal investigation into her death. So far, more than 160 dogs have been pulled from the trail due to illness, injury, or exhaustion.

Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Jack Daniel’s, and Wells Fargo have all dropped their support for the race after hearing from PETA, which is calling on Alaskan Brewing Company and Providence to follow suit.

Update (March 7, 2025): Pregnant Dog Forced to Race Dies Running in the Iditarod

A four-year-old pregnant dog named Ventana is dead after collapsing on the Iditarod trail. Ventana should have had a life filled with love, play, and safety in the home of a caring family. Instead, she was forced to run hundreds of miles while pregnant in the dangerous Iditarod—which has already claimed the lives of more than 150 other dogs.

Ventana’s life was cut short for this cruel spectacle. We need your help to stop this race from killing more dogs like her.

Update (March 7, 2025): Iditarod Tries to Cover Up Serious Dog Emergency

PETA confirmed that the Iditarod tried to conceal a serious incident involving a dog named Jett who was pulled from the race on Wednesday afternoon. Jett, who was being forced to run by musher Brenda Mackey, collapsed on the trail and required emergency veterinary care—despite an Iditarod veterinarian having given her a clean bill of health the night before. When Mackey returned to the Tanana checkpoint with 13 dogs in harness and one dog, Jett, being carried in the sled bag, the Iditarod livestream cut audio and panned away from the dog in the bag. The Iditarod’s later news release claimed that “Mackey had 14 dogs in harness when she arrived in Tanana, all in good health”—a blatant falsehood which Mackey herself just debunked on social media.

“A dog who had previously been declared healthy by the Iditarod’s veterinarians collapsed and had to be flown to Anchorage for immediate and extensive care just two days after the race began, and officials are desperately scrambling to cover it up. The Iditarod keeps proving that it cares more about PR than dogs’ health and safety, and PETA is calling for this despicable race to end immediately before even more dogs are added to its long list of casualties.” – PETA’s Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman

In addition, Mackey claims to have pushed her SOS button five times to call for assistance, but there’s no record of the button having been activated. PETA points out that if there is a malfunction with the SOS device, it means that dogs’ lives are at even greater risk. More than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since the event began, including three young dogs who collapsed and died on the trail last year.

Update (March 7, 2025): 70+ Dogs Already Pulled from the Cruel 2025 Iditarod Race

The 2025 Iditarod race is proving to be especially grueling for the dogs forced to run it. In addition to the extended trail length this year, dogs are also experiencing trail conditions that they weren’t trained for and harsh weather—including a sandstorm that caused mushers to get lost! More than 70 dogs have already been pulled from the trail due to illness, injury, or exhaustion; the remaining dogs still have hundreds of grueling miles to go.

What’s Happened to Dogs Forced to Race in the 2025 Iditarod So Far?

Musher Mille Porsild’s dog, Hank, reportedly fell through the ice into a river and was dragged because Mille could not halt the rest of the dogs. Hank then had to ride in the sled for eight hours before reaching the next checkpoint for an examination. Allegedly, Hank “showed no signs of injury,” but Mille “dropped” him, along with two other dogs from her team due to paw “issues.”

Musher Matthew Failor stated in an interview that some dogs were having “some issues,” including soreness and stiffness, and he said he’d probably have to drop them if they didn’t rest. One of his dogs was pulled from the race, and the rest were forced to continue.

Jeff Deeter noticed “some lameness in a few of the dogs” before arriving at the Tanana checkpoint. However, he forced some of them to continue running to get to the checkpoint. At the checkpoint, he found his dogs were suffering from even more orthopedic issues. Two dogs were pulled from the race, he left the checkpoint, and then turned around because “more dogs in the team were lame.” Four dogs in total from his team have now been pulled from the race, but the rest are still being forced to run the cruel Iditarod.

Musher Justin Olnes’ dogs reportedly had a gastrointestinal “bug” and were administered metronidazole for diarrhea. One of his dogs was pulled from the race due to vomiting, but he is still forcing the rest of the dogs to run despite their sickness.

Update (February 28, 2025): PETA’s ‘Dog Graveyard’ Haunts Mushers at the Iditarod’s Starting Events

Bearing tombstones emblazoned with the names Bog, Henry, and George—the three young dogs forced to run to their deaths during the 2024 Iditarod—PETA supporters converged outside the Mushers Banquet Gala in Anchorage, Alaska, determined to end the immense suffering of the dogs used in the race.

Last year, musher Isaac Teaford was caught on camera attempting to force Bog, whose limp body was lying on the snow, to stand. In addition to the deaths during the event, five dogs were killed during training before the race even began.

PETA’s chilling display continued at the Iditarod’s Ceremonial Start on March 1, where our dog defenders gathered with signs reading, “Iditarod: 150+ Dead Dogs and Counting” and “Dogs Struck, Kicked, Dragged for the Iditarod.” This year’s race marks 100 years since the Serum Run—a one-time relay in response to a health emergency that profiteering proponents of the Iditarod have shamelessly co-opted.

On March 3, attendees of the Iditarod Restart in Fairbanks were met by PETA supporters bearing signs reading, “Iditarod: Stop Racing Dogs to Death.”

Iditarod Facts: The Sordid Legacy of One of the World’s Cruelest Races

• During the Iditarod, mushers force dogs to run about 100 miles per day through biting winds, blinding snowstorms, subzero temperatures, and frozen terrain. The dogs often suffer from cut and bruised feet, bleeding stomach ulcers, strained muscles, and other painful injuries.
• The leading cause of death for dogs in the Iditarod is aspiration pneumonia—caused by inhaling their own vomit. Up to half the dogs who start the race don’t finish it—they are pulled out of the race due to exhaustion, illness, or injury, or they die on the trail. 
• Countless other dogs have died during the off-season. When mushers aren’t forcing them to run, humans neglect, abuse, and chain dogs outside in below-freezing weather, as revealed in PETA’s exposé of well-known mushers’ kennels. Before the 2024 Iditarod even began, five dogs were killed, and eight others were injured after being hit by snowmobiles in two separate training incidents in November and December 2023.
• There’s no retirement plan for dogs used in the Iditarod. Humans have shot, bludgeoned to death, or abandoned those deemed no longer useful.
• Last year’s winner, Dallas Seavey, and his father, Mitch Seavey, who is set to compete in this year’s race, literally wrote the book—two books, in fact—on beating, depriving, and neglecting dogs in pursuit of an Iditarod championship. Here’s just one appalling passage from the books: “When he doesn’t respond, stop, go up to the dog, pull back on his tug line, and with a pre-selected willow stick about ½ inch in diameter and three feet long, give him a good whack on the butt as you repeat the command. You have to whack him good, too. Don’t just hit the tug line or something. If you are going to bother with this, it’s got to sting.”
• The race is hit with scandal after scandal year-round. Months after the conclusion of last year’s race, Iditarod officials announced that musher Joshua Robbins’ 27^th place finish in 2024 had been vacated amid dog-drugging allegations. Despite requiring Robbins to return the prize money he won, officials welcomed him to apply to participate in future races.
• According to official estimates, the 2025 Iditarod is the longest since 2009, stretching 1128 miles. Following backlash from mushers and fans concerned about dangerous trail conditions, the Iditarod moved its restart location from Willow to Fairbanks—after initially failing to take any action to protect the dogs from the dangers posed by the lack of snow. Mushers were apparently silenced on this issue, which comes as no surprise considering the Iditarod’s use of gag rules to attempt to avoid criticism and conceal information that would be damaging to the race’s reputation (see Rule 53 here).
• The Iditarod isn’t about Alaskan history—it’s about cash prizes and bragging rights for mushers. Proponents of the Iditarod have shamelessly co-opted the Serum Run—a one-time relay organized in response to a health emergency—in an attempt to glamorize a modern-day event that subjects dogs to even greater suffering. Dogs used during the Serum Run took turns in a relay to deliver an emergency supply of diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska—meaning they were never forced to run 1,000 miles or more, as they are now.
• Numerous companies have cut ties with the race after reviewing PETA’s documentation of cruelty and hearing from the public. These include Millennium Hotels and Resorts, ExxonMobil (which was a major Iditarod sponsor, giving $250,000 a year), Jack Daniel’s, Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Wells Fargo, and Alaska Airlines. GCI (owned by Liberty Media), a major sponsor for years, appears to be distancing itself from the race, as its logo has been removed from the race website.

The Iditarod’s Death Toll Will Continue to Climb Until It Ends

The Iditarod’s remaining sponsors should be ashamed of the blood on their hands. Help us urge them to stop supporting this cruelty.