PETA’s Top Iditarod Social Media Posts: ‘Like,’ Share, and Get Active for Suffering Dogs

Did you know that the Iditarod—a grueling dog-sled race that extends approximately 1,000 miles across unforgiving Alaskan terrain—has killed more than 150 dogs since it began in 1973? The event’s money- and fame-hungry mushers have also caused thousands upon thousands of other dogs to suffer during that time. Countless examples of how mushers neglect, harm, and abandon dogs are exposed in PETA’s top Iditarod Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts.

Each impactful post displays the speciesist practices that prop up and perpetuate this death race, raising awareness, increasing compassion, and stirring viewers to take action against it. We invite you to venture through, “like,” and share our viral, chart-topping, bone-chilling social media posts and urge you to help dogs by demanding that companies stop sponsoring the notoriously cruel Iditarod.

• PETA’s Undercover Investigative Iditarod Facebook Video

In a montage of eyewitness footage, PETA revealed how mushers neglected dogs used for the race. As the post says, “One look at these dogs and you’ll know exactly why the Iditarod must end.”

• Musher Brent Sass Forced Dogs to Endure a Storm With Their Eyes Frozen Shut

On the way to collect his prize for the 2022 race, musher Brent Sass filmed a video of dogs he was forcing to run in the Iditarod suffering in an extreme snowstorm. Their eyes were frozen shut, but he continued to force them to run.

• How Mushers Treated Former Iditarod Champion

This footage from PETA’s investigation shows how even an Iditarod champion dog like Snickers was discarded once she was no longer considered useful. A musher left her near a frozen sea to limp in circles on a chain while suffering from arthritis pain.

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• Sled Dogs Documentary

Using clips from the award-winning documentary Sled Dogs, PETA exposed the hellish reality of dog sledding with this very brief and effective video and encouraged viewers to get active for these abused animals.

• The Iditarod in Reverse: What Happens to Dogs Before the Race

This footage exposed the many ways in which dogs used for the Iditarod are neglected, abused, abandoned, and—if too slow or weak to compete—killed before the race even begins.

• Iditarod Role-Reversal Illustration

The text accompanying this illustration sums it up perfectly. To imagine swapping the roles of human and dog helps motivate any viewer to take action for animals and help end the Iditarod.

• ExxonMobil Iditarod Victory

This post appeared in early 2021, after ExxonMobil agreed to end its decades-long sponsorship of the Iditarod. The victory came after nearly 100,000 PETA supporters, along with protests across the country, called on the company to cut ties with the death race.

• Liberty Media CEO ‘Dead Dog’ Demonstration

Greg Maffei—CEO of Liberty Media—got a wake-up call when a striking PETA protest at his front door, complete with “dead dogs” dragged on a sled, showed how the company supports dog abuse via its sponsorship of the Iditarod. Help give this post even more of a viral lift via a retweet once you’ve viewed and “liked” it.

• Birch

After being severely injured, a dog named Birch was left to suffer at the kennel of a former Iditarod champion without veterinary care. This moving video, posted in early 2020, explained how a PETA eyewitness repeatedly offered to alleviate Birch’s suffering by adopting her but was refused by the dog’s owners.

• Dogs Used for Fighting vs. Dogs Used for the Iditarod

Comparing two circumstances in which dogs are chained, neglected, and abused for entertainment, this split picture made it painfully clear that there’s nothing to celebrate about the Iditarod.

• Cruel Musher

An entire team of dogs vomited. One bit another in the face. Multiple dogs got frostbite. Despite all this, an Iditarod musher kept them in the race until mile 852. Click this 2020 Facebook link to learn more.

• Maggie’s Rescue Story

From a frigid Iditarod kennel to a warm, loving home, Maggie—a dog given to a PETA eyewitness since her owners felt she wasn’t “built” to race—got her rescue story told in this touching video.

Let PETA’s Iditarod Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Posts Get You Engaged for Dogs

These compelling social media posts exposed the cruelty of the Iditarod and enlightened viewers to why the event must end—now please take action. The few companies that still sponsor the race must stop doing so, and you can help dogs by sending that message: