‘Dog Graveyard’ to Haunt Chrysler Over Deadly Iditarod Sponsorship

PETA Protest at Car Show Will Urge Automaker to Stop Bankrolling Race That Hurts, Kills Dogs

For Immediate Release:
July 12, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

What:    A “graveyard” of five “dead dogs” lying in front of headstones engraved with the name, age, and cause of death of each dog who died during the 2017 Iditarod race will appear outside the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals car show on Friday. The reason? A Chrysler franchise in Anchorage still plans to sponsor the Iditarod—as one of just four principal sponsors—even though more than 150 dogs have died during the races since they began and a veteran musher revealed that trainers in the industry have killed hundreds more dogs who didn’t make the cut.

When:    Friday, July 13, 12 noon

Where:    In front of Gate 2 at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, 1000 Bryn Mawr Rd., Carlisle

“No company should want its name attached to a race that forces dogs to run so far and so fast that some choke to death on their own vomit,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Chrysler and its franchise to follow the lead of Jack Daniel’s, Wells Fargo, State Farm, and many others and stop supporting the horrific dog-killing Iditarod.”

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” notes that hundreds of dogs are pulled from the Iditarod every year because they’re too injured or ill to go on—and countless ones die immediately after the race, during training, or while chained to plastic barrels outside during the off-season. Just last month, Jack Daniel’s ended its 15-year Iditarod sponsorship, adding its name to a long list of companies—including Costco, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, and Wells Fargo—that have cut ties with the race.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.