Jack Daniel’s Party Draws ‘Dog Graveyard’ Protest

PETA Will Push Distillery to Stop Sponsoring Iditarod Because of Cruelty, Doping, Routine Killing of Dogs

For Immediate Release:
February 14, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

What:    A ghastly “graveyard” of five “dead dogs” lying in front of headstones engraved with the name, age, and cause of death of each dog who died during the 2017 Iditarod race will appear outside a Jack Daniel’s party in Los Angeles on Thursday. With signs proclaiming, “Dogs Run to Death for Iditarod,” PETA supporters will call on Jack Daniel’s to stop sponsoring the race, which is facing a doping scandal and a musher’s revelation that trainers in the industry have killed “hundreds on top of hundreds” of dogs who were bred for the race but didn’t make the cut.

When:    Thursday, February 15, 8 p.m.

Where:    1215 Bates Ave. (at the intersection with Fountain Avenue), Los Angeles

“No ethical company would support an event that’s tainted by doping and dogs’ horrific deaths,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Jack Daniel’s to stop being a party to this cruelty by nixing its Iditarod sponsorship immediately.”

PETA (whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”) notes that more than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began, and those are just the reported deaths—this doesn’t include those who died immediately after the race, during training, or while chained to plastic barrels outside during the off-season. Recently, a whistleblower released disturbing photographs and video footage of reportedly dying puppies and sick, injured dogs at a kennel owned by “Iditarod royalty” Dallas Seavey, the four-time race champion at the center of the dog-doping scandal.

Wells Fargo and State Farm recently ended their Iditarod sponsorships, and many other brands—including Costco, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, and Safeway—cut ties with the race years ago.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.