PETA Statement: Iditarod Tries to Cover Up Serious Dog Emergency

For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Tanana, Alaska –

PETA has just 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. Please see the following statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman:

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.

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.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.