PETA Statement: Iditarod ‘Win’ Is Cause for Reflection Not Celebration

For Immediate Release:
March 18, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in response to Thomas Waerner winning the 2020 Iditarod this morning:

With approximately 180 dogs pulled from the Iditarod so far because of exhaustion, injuries, and illnesses such as life-threatening bloat—and mushers forcing dogs to continue in the face of vomiting and frostbite, sled fires, and last-minute substitutions—no musher’s finish warrants a celebration. When Waerner left behind four dogs he pushed beyond the breaking point during the race and chains up dogs desperate for love and warmth next to wooden boxes in the snow, it’s clear why PETA’s call for this despicable race to end is spot on.

Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center, Alaska Airlines, and Baird Private Wealth Management have all cut ties with the race in just the last two weeks. They join Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Panasonic, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, State Farm, and Wells Fargo in ending their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA, which is calling on Millennium Hotels and Resorts to follow suit.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. More information about PETA’s campaign against the Iditarod is available at PETA.org.