PETA to Shut Down Exxon Gas Station for Cruelty to Dogs

Nationwide Campaign Calls On Oil Company to Stop Fueling Notorious Iditarod Race

For Immediate Release:
September 23, 2020

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

Because ExxonMobil continues to pump money into the deadly Iditarod dog race even as other sponsors have pulled out, PETA supporters armed with yellow caution tape and “blood”-filled gas jugs will close a local Exxon station for cruelty tomorrow. The action follows a PETA protest outside the company’s headquarters and is one of many planned for Exxon locations nationwide.

When:    Thursday, September 24, 12 noon

Where:    Exxon gas station, 3801 S. Dale Mabry Hwy. (near the intersection with W. Euclid Avenue), Tampa

“Exxon has the shameful distinction of being one of the last major companies still sponsoring the Iditarod’s cruelty to dogs,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging it to stop propping up an evil industry that forces dogs to run so far and so fast that they often die after inhaling their own vomit.”

Jack Daniel’s, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Alaska Airlines, and many other companies cut ties with the race after PETA pointed out that more than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began. In addition to being tied up on mushers’ properties (as revealed in this PETA exposé), dogs are forced to pull heavy sleds across 1,000 miles through blinding blizzards and subzero temperatures.

More than 220 dogs were pulled off the trail during the 2020 race because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes. One, Cool Cat, developed twisted intestines and almost died. Another, Betty, had pneumonia and was in critical condition, and two others refused to eat and had fevers, diarrhea, and persistent coughs.

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.