Liberty Media, STOP Sponsoring the Iditarod: How PETA Is Exposing the Cruelty
More than 150 dogs have died while running the Iditarod in Alaska. That number doesn’t include those dogs who died during the off-season while chained up outside in all weather extremes or those who were killed because they weren’t considered fast or fit enough. Most major corporate supporters of the Iditarod have dropped their support of the race following PETA campaigns, and the 2023 Iditarod had the smallest number of mushers ever. In addition, the Iron Dog snowmobile race and the Iditarod Trail Invitational ultramarathon—which are both dog-free—exceeded the Iditarod in sign-ups. However, Alaskan internet service provider GCI, owned by Liberty Media, continues to give the death race more than $250,000 annually. Find out how we have taken action to urge Liberty Media to drop GCI’s sponsorship—and how you can help dogs forced to race.
Colfax Marathon Runners Were Met With Footage of Dogs Forced to Race in Iditarod
May 19, 2024: Liberty Media supports inflicting injury, death, and lifelong misery on dogs in Alaska by sponsoring the Iditarod, so PETA raced to bring details of the hellish event to Denver, near the company’s local headquarters.
When runners reached the finish line of Sunday’s Colfax Marathon, they were met with a gruesome surprise: a giant mobile billboard playing video footage of dogs chained in the bitter cold at Iditarod competitors’ kennels. The back of the vehicle featured a graphic image urging Liberty Media to end its sponsorship of the cruel race, in which more than 150 dogs have died.
During this year’s Iditarod, three young dogs collapsed and died on the trail within one 48-hour period. Five additional dogs died and eight others were injured during training before the event. More than 200 dogs who started the race were too ill, exhausted, or injured to finish.
Human runners race by choice, but dogs in the Iditarod are forced to run about four marathons a day for up to two weeks through snow and ice until their paws bleed and their bodies break down.
How Are We Urging Liberty Media to Drop the Archaic Iditarod?
We first wrote to GCI CEO Ron Duncan in 2017 and then reached out to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei in 2021. From there, we launched action alerts, posted calls to action on social media, purchased enough stock to attend and ask questions at annual shareholder meetings, held demonstrations at Liberty’s headquarters in Colorado, and so much more.
Maffei Needs to Listen, Not Talk
May 1 and 4, 2023: A heavy security presence at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, didn’t stop PETA supporters from crashing Maffei’s invitation-only breakfast talk on May 1. The protesters delivered a heartfelt appeal that he end his company’s support of the deadly Iditarod.
Just three days later, PETA supporters addressed Maffei again, this time during Jay Leno’s opening speech at the F1 Accelerate Summit at the Rubell Museum in Miami. They issued another plea in behalf of all the dogs who suffer for the Iditarod.
Diane Warren Stands With Dogs Used for Racing
May 22, 2023: We ran TV ads in Englewood, Colorado—Maffei’s hometown and the location of Liberty Media’s headquarters—featuring songwriter Diane Warren’s Oscar-nominated hit “I’m Standing With You,” which she had donated to us to support our campaign.
Lewis Hamilton, Use Your Voice
January 6, 2023: PETA U.K. sent a birthday gift to vegan F1 champ Lewis Hamilton. We hope this gift—a blue megaphone—will inspire him to bellow his condemnation of the cruel Iditarod for the world to hear and use his influence to urge Liberty Media to cut all ties with the event.
Social Justice for ALL Animals—Not Just Humans
July 25, 2022: After we received an e-mail from Duncan, we blasted him on social media for using his sympathy for other social injustices—which, apparently, he’s hardly lifted a finger to help solve—as an excuse for supporting animal abuse.
Asking the Big Questions: Shareholder Meetings Are the Perfect Opportunity to Be Heard
June 13, 2022: By purchasing stock in the companies we wish to change, we’re able to attend shareholder meetings—a powerful means of influencing the management, boards, and investors of entities that support the exploitation of animals. We attended Liberty Broadband’s shareholder meeting and asked when it would “stop funding this hideous cycle of torment and death by dropping GCI’s sponsorship of the Iditarod.”
Racetrack Heroes: Global Grand Prix Protesters Show Up for Dogs
July 9, 2023 (and other dates): After a successful demo at F1’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne featuring the somber scene of “gravestones” honoring dead dogs, demonstrators from PETA entities attended F1 Grand Prix events in Spain, Monaco, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S, and many other locations.
At one demo at the F1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, police detained three protesters with PETA (including the “husky”) and removed them from the property in a golf cart.
Outrage: Mushers Fined for Bringing Dogs Inside During Storm
April 4, 2022: The 2022 Iditarod dog-sled race ended in a debacle over officials’ shameful decision to demote and impose fines on mushers who took dogs inside during a potentially fatal storm, and PETA fired off a letter to Maffei to insist that GCI stop sponsoring the deadly race.
‘Dogs’ Tied to Stakes Protest Outside GCI Headquarters
March 3, 2022: We held a demonstration at GCI’s headquarters in Anchorage ahead of the 2022 Iditarod. Demonstrators brought along realistic-looking “dogs” tied to stakes, which showed the way mushers “store” living, breathing, feeling dogs.
PETA Asks the Atlanta Braves to Help Hit a Home Run for Dogs
January 3, 2022: We asked the Atlanta Braves, owned by Liberty Media, to join our team effort and call foul on this deadly partnership.
PETA-Made Spoof Logos Show There’s No Liberty for Dogs Used in the Iditarod
We created a spoof of the Liberty Media and GCI logos to send to the company and share online.
Formula 1 Needs to Hit the Brakes on Its Iditarod Sponsorship
Nov 24, 2021: Formula 1 (F1) offers a great animal-free alternative to using dogs for racing (i.e., race cars)—except that it’s owned by Liberty Media. So PETA launched a video explaining F1’s connection to the death race and asking it to race away from the Iditarod’s cruelty.
Help PETA Finish the Race—Urge Liberty Media to Drop the Iditarod
No race is worth a dog’s life. Dogs forced to race are no different from those we share our homes with—they don’t want to run hundreds of miles through subfreezing temperatures until their bodies break down, be kept chained up outside in all weather extremes, or be killed because they’re not fast or fit enough. Dozens of other companies—including Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, and Millennium Hotels and Resorts—have cut ties with the race. Help us urge Liberty Media/GCI to do the same. Dogs deserve far better than a lifetime spent pulling a heavy sled or being isolated on a chain.
