Millennium Hotels to Face PETA Protest Over Iditarod Ties

For Immediate Release:
February 24, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Because Millennium Hotels and Resorts still sponsors the Iditarod dogsled race—in which more than 150 dogs have died—PETA’s “husky” mascot will lead a lively protest outside the company’s U.S. sales office on Thursday, complete with suitcases sporting a spoof “Millhellium” logo.

When:    Thursday, February 25, 12 noon

Where:    Millennium Hotels and Resorts U.S. sales office, 7900 E. Union Ave. (near the intersection with S. Ulster Street), Denver

The protest comes just after ExxonMobil, a major Iditarod sponsor giving $250,000 a year, confirmed that 2021 is the last year it will support the race. The oil giant follows Chrysler, Jack Daniel’s, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, and Alaska Airlines in dropping support for the Iditarod.

“PETA is calling on Millennium Hotels and Resorts to check out of the Iditarod’s cruelty to dogs,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Millennium guests should be disgusted at the thought of supporting a race that has run 150 dogs to their deaths and countless more to the brink of collapse.”

More than half the dogs who start the Iditarod don’t finish it, and during the 2020 race alone, more than 220 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes. The leading cause of death for dogs made to race in the Iditarod is aspiration pneumonia—caused by inhaling their own vomit. Many more have died during the off-season while chained up outside in subzero temperatures or were killed because they weren’t considered fast enough.

Sled Dogs, a documentary film that shines a spotlight on the dogs who are forced to run until their bodies break down or are killed if they don’t measure up, is available on Prime Video and Plex.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.