‘Dog Graveyard’ to Haunt Jack Daniel’s Over Deadly Iditarod Sponsorship

PETA Pressures Distillery to Stop Funding Cruel Race Because of Doping, Routine Killing of Dogs

For Immediate Release:
February 7, 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 the Louisville headquarters of Jack Daniel’s parent company, the Brown-Forman Corporation, on Thursday. The demonstration is part of PETA’s efforts to pressure the company to pull its funding for the deadly race. Protesters will also brandish signs proclaiming, “Dogs Run to Death for Iditarod.” The solemn scene comes in response to a recent doping scandal and a veteran 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 8, 12 noon

Where:    Outside Brown-Forman headquarters, at the intersection of Dixie Highway and Howard Street, Louisville

“With so many great causes that Jack Daniel’s could support, it’s baffling that it would align itself with an event that’s tainted by doping and that kills dogs in horrible ways,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the company to cut ties with the Iditarod and all the drugs, death, and abuse that come with it.”

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. Recently, a whistleblower also 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 recently ended its Iditarod sponsorship, 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.