Photos: ‘Dog Graveyard’ Haunts Fiat Chrysler Meeting

For Immediate Release:
September 7, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

At the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles annual meeting in Amsterdam today, three “dead dogs” lay in front of headstones engraved with the name, age, and cause of death of each dog who died during last year’s Iditarod. The action was in protest of Chrysler’s link to the deadly race: One of the company’s dealerships in Anchorage, Alaska, continues to sponsor the race—as one of just four principal sponsors—despite its history of dogs’ deaths.

Photos from the event are available here.

“Chrysler should be desperate to distance itself from a race that forces dogs to run until their paws bleed, their bodies give out, and they choke to death on their own vomit,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on the company to cut ties with the horrific, deadly Iditarod.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that a total of 350 dogs were pulled off the trail during the 2018 Iditarod, likely because of exhaustion, illness, or injury. One of them, Blonde, later died from aspiration pneumonia—probably caused by choking on his own vomit, the leading cause of death for dogs who die running the Iditarod. Earlier this year, Jack Daniel’s ended its 15-year Iditarod sponsorship, adding its name to a long list of companies that have cut ties with the race.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.