Millennium Hotels to Face PETA Protest Over Iditarod Ties
For Immediate Release:
April 21, 2021
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Because Millennium Hotels and Resorts still sponsors the Iditarod—in which more than 150 dogs have died—PETA protesters led by the group’s “Siberian husky” mascot will descend on the Millennium-owned Comfort Inn Near Vail Beaver Creek tomorrow with suitcases sporting a spoof “Millhellium” logo.
When: Thursday, April 22, 12 noon
Where: Outside the Comfort Inn Near Vail Beaver Creek, 0161 W. Beaver Creek Blvd. (at the intersection with Lake Street), Avon
“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 by the thought of supporting a race that has run 150 dogs to their deaths and countless others to the brink of collapse.”
More than half the dogs who start the Iditarod don’t finish it, and during this year’s race, nearly 200 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, leaving the remaining ones to work even harder. The leading cause of death for dogs forced to race in the Iditarod is aspiration pneumonia—caused by inhaling their own vomit. Many others have died during the off-season while chained up outdoors in subzero temperatures or were killed because they weren’t considered fast enough.
ExxonMobil, a major Iditarod sponsor, which gave $250,000 a year, confirmed that 2021 was the last year that it would support the race, and Chrysler, Jack Daniel’s, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, and Alaska Airlines have all ended their support of the Iditarod.
Sled Dogs—a documentary 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.
