Vancouver Travel Company Drops Dogsledding Excursions After PETA Appeal

CruiseExperts Travel Earns Vegan Chocolates as Thanks for Cutting Ties With Dogsled–Racing Industry

For Immediate Release:
September 11, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

After PETA pointed out that more than 150 dogs have died during the Iditarod’s history—and that off-season tours keep mushers’ kennels in business—Vancouver-based CruiseExperts Travel (part of the Merit Travel Group family of brands) removed all dogsledding excursions from its offerings on AlaskaShoreExperts.com. In thanks, PETA has sent the company a box of dog-shaped vegan chocolates.

“Dozens of dogs have choked to death on their own vomit or died in other horrible ways during the Iditarod, and those are just the reported deaths,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “By taking dogsledding enterprises off its excursions list, CruiseExperts Travel is leading the travel industry in a more dog-friendly direction.”

PETA notes that the Iditarod forces dogs to run up to 100 miles a day across treacherous ice and in subzero temperatures. A total of 350 dogs were pulled off the trail during the 2018 race, 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 race. Last year, the Iditarod came under fire for a dog-doping scandal and a musher’s revelation that trainers in the industry have killed “hundreds on top of hundreds” of dogs who didn’t make the cut.

The Iditarod has recently lost Jack Daniel’s, Guggenheim Partners, State Farm, and Wells Fargo as sponsors. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—is now calling on Discover Holidays to stop offering dogsledding excursions.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.