‘Dog Pack’ to Protest Chrysler Over Iditarod Sponsorship

PETA Presence at Chicago Auto Show Will Urge Anchorage Dealership to Stop Bankrolling Race That Hurts, Kills Dogs

For Immediate Release:
February 8, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A Chrysler franchise in Anchorage, Alaska, still sponsors the Iditarod—even though 150 dogs have died in the race since it began—prompting a pack of PETA “dogs” to descend on the Chicago Auto Show on Saturday with a Chrysler car spray-painted with the message “Chrysler Sponsors Dog Abuse.” Protesters will also hold signs proclaiming, “Chrysler: Stop Driving Dogs to Their Death.”

When:    Saturday, February 9, 12 noon

Where:    At the intersection of S. Martin Luther King Dr. and McCormick Square, Chicago

“No company should want its name attached to a race that forces dogs to run so far, so fast, and in such extreme weather conditions that some choke to death on their own vomit,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Chrysler to cut ties with the despicable, dog-killing Iditarod.”

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” notes that hundreds of dogs are pulled from the Iditarod every year because they’re too injured or ill to go on—and countless ones die immediately after the race, during training, or while chained to plastic barrels outside during the off-season.

Jack Daniel’s recently ended its 15-year Iditarod sponsorship, adding its name to a long list of companies—including Costco, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, and Wells Fargo—that have cut ties with the race.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.