For Immediate Release:
February 23, 2021
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Anchorage, Alaska – Because Millennium Hotels and Resorts continues to sponsor the Iditarod even as other companies have dropped their support, PETA has plastered People Mover buses downtown in the lead-up to the race with ads targeting the company that feature a dog named Snickers chained up on an Iditarod champion’s property.
PETA’s undercover investigation into champion Iditarod mushers’ “kennels” first captured the image. Snickers had suffered from painful arthritis for years—including when she led John Baker’s team to victory in 2011—but was kept chained up 24/7 by the frozen sea and limped and cried out constantly.
“Imagine providing hotel guests with only a dilapidated box or barrel to protect them from freezing wind and rain, yet that’s what Millennium Hotels finds acceptable for dogs who want nothing more than to spend the night in a warm bed,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges Millennium to embrace the 21st century and end its support for this cruel, archaic race.”
Following PETA campaigns, Jack Daniel’s, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, and Alaska Airlines have dropped support for the Iditarod. ExxonMobil, a major Iditarod sponsor giving $250,000 a year, has confirmed that 2021 is the last year it will support the race. Craft Sportswear, Medical Park Family Care, and Anchorage Distillery have also cut ties.
Sled Dogs, a documentary film that shines a spotlight on the dogs who are forced to run until their bodies break down or killed if they don’t measure up, is available on Prime Video and Plex.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
