Dog Defenders to Descend on Liberty CEO’s Home Over Iditarod Deaths

For Immediate Release:
March 15, 2024

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

“Greg Maffei Has Dogs’ Blood on His Hands!” That’s the message PETA supporters will bring to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei’s Englewood home on Monday in the wake of the Iditarod deaths of Bog, George, and Henry, three young dogs who collapsed and died within about 48 hours of one another while being forced to race. The dog defenders will shout their call for Maffei to end his company’s shameful sponsorship of the deadly race.

When:    Monday, March 18, 6 p.m.

Bog’s musher was caught on camera attempting to force him to his feet in order to make him keep running. In addition, a dog used by notorious musher Dallas Seavey was critically injured by a moose and musher Erin Altemus admitted that the dogs she was forcing to race were “mentally at their edge” and that some were limping and had shoulder injuries, including one who was carried in a bag to a checkpoint.

“Three dogs were just run to their deaths, and Liberty Media and Greg Maffei have their blood on their hands,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The Iditarod continues only because of the quarter-million dollars funneled to it by Liberty Media, and PETA is calling on Maffei to put this money toward a good cause, not a despicable race that runs dogs into the ground.”

More than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began, with aspiration pneumonia (caused by inhaling their own vomit) the top cause. Up to half the dogs who start the race don’t finish it. During last year’s Iditarod, approximately 175 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, leaving the remaining ones to work even harder. The race ended in controversy after the winner was caught on video dragging exhausted dogs toward a checkpoint.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.