Jack Daniel’s to Get Flambéed as Company Comes Under Fire for Iditarod Sponsorship

Doping, Mass Killings of Dogs Spark Fiery PETA Protest to Urge the Distillery to Pull Its Funding of the Cruel Race

For Immediate Release:
November 27, 2017

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

What:    On Tuesday, PETA supporters will set alight a model of a Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle—with an image of a dead dog inside—to make the point that people are all fired up over the distillery’s sponsorship of the cruel and deadly Iditarod dog race. Protesters will also brandish recently acquired graphic photos of the poor conditions in which dogs bred for the race are kept and carry signs emblazoned with “Jack Daniel’s: Burn Your Iditarod Sponsorship!”

When:    Tuesday, November 28, 12 noon

Where:    Outside the Jack Daniel’s Distillery Visitor Center, 133 Lynchburg Hwy., Lynchburg

The fiery protest follows revelations about cruelty in the racing industry, including a statement from a veteran musher who reports that trainers in the industry have killed “hundreds on top of hundreds or more” dogs who didn’t make the cut, as well as disturbing photographs and video footage of reportedly sick and dying puppies and injured dogs at a kennel owned by four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, who was recently implicated in a dog-doping scandal.

“These shocking revelations of cruelty to dogs should persuade Jack Daniel’s to send its Iditarod sponsorship up in smoke,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges the company to stop supporting a race that forces dogs to run for miles despite sustaining bloody paws, stress fractures, and other painful injuries.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that more than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod, and that number includes only those whose deaths were reported while racing. In the 2017 race alone, five dogs died in less than one week.

Wells Fargo recently ended its Iditarod sponsorship, and many other brands—including Costco, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Ride Aid, and Safeway—cut ties with the race years ago.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.