Companies sponsoring brutal Iditarod dog sled race

[Guest guest]

From The Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org:

 

The brutality continues. Dogs who are forced to run in the horrific Iditarod

dog sled race need your help. Please write to companies that support this

cruelty.

 

Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod or who are unwanted

for any other reason are shot in the head, dragged or clubbed to death.

" On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with baseball

bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses..... " wrote

Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper (March,

2000).

 

The Iditarod is condemned by animal protection groups and concerned animal

lovers across the United States. Iditarod dogs are cruelly treated by mushers

and those who would profit from the exploitation of these animals. This race

forces dogs to run 1,150 miles, which is the approximate distance between New

York City and Orlando, over a grueling terrain in 9 to 14 days.

 

Below are the sponsor email addresses in block form, except for Outback

Steakhouse. Under these you will find more company contact information and a

sample letter. If you will be boycotting a company, please say so in your

letter.

 

Emails in block form, except for Outback Steakhouse:

 

hhc,info,shareholders.im,hr1 (AT) amerigas (DOT)

 

com,jim_cannataro,brian_kuchar,mark.ricci (AT) starwoodhotels (DOT)

 

com,children,dhowlett,marketing,gcahi

 

ll,investors,investorrelations,inv

 

estor.relations,sales,

mail,sales,pikelegal,

info,rambler,info,cymbainc,

customer.service,infokennesaw,dsmith@georgiads

 

l.com,info,craigm,

info,lsitton,info,info

 

,invrel,invest,customer.service,ne

 

wsroom,coorsandco,elintecum,inf

 

o,solson,Customer.Service,investor_relations@c

 

hoicehotels.com,Eric_Sieracki,juergen.beunink.jb,

 

info

 

Outback Steakhouse: http://outback.com/email/ (Click: Contact Us)

 

 

Sample letter: found below individual company contact information

 

Musher sponsors:

 

Minnesota Wild NHL Hockey Team

317 Washington Street

Saint Paul, MN 55102

Phone: (651) 602-6000

Fax: (651) 222-1055

Email: nhl2000

 

Charles A. Ledsinger, Jr., CEO

Choice Hotels (Comfort Inns)

10750 Columbia Pike

Silver Spring, MD 20901

Toll free phone: (800) 424-6423

Email: investor_relations

 

Stanford Kurland, CEO

Countrywide Credit Industries, Inc. (Countrywide Home Loans)

4500 Park Granada

Calabasas, CA 91302-1613

Phone: 818-225-3000

Fax: 818-225-4051

Email: Eric_Sieracki

 

Stephen J. Winjum, CEO

NovaMed Eyecare, Inc. (Hobson - Tasman Eye & Blue Laser Group)

980 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1620

Chicago, IL 60611

Phone: 312-664-4100

Fax: 312-664-4250

Email: info

 

Alan G. Lafley, CEO

Procter & Gamble (Iams)

One Procter & Gamble Plaza

Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513-983-1100

Fax: 513-983-9369

Email: shareholders.im

 

Eugene Bissell , CEO

UGI Corporation (AmeriGas)

460 N. Gulph Rd.

King of Prussia, PA 19406

Phone: 610-337-7000

Fax: 610-992-3259

Email: hr1

 

Michael Moran, Chmn

Spiegel, Inc. (Eddie Bauer)

3500 Lacey Rd.

Downers Grove, IL 60515-5432

Phone: 1-800-474-5555 (toll free)

Email: jim_cannataro

 

Stephen Bollenbach, CEO

Hilton Hotels

9336 Civic Center Dr.

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Phone: 310-278-4321

Fax: 310-205-7678

Email: brian_kuchar

 

Barry S. Sternlicht, CEO

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (Sheraton Hotels)

777 Westchester Ave.

White Plains, NY 10604

Phone: 914-640-8100

Fax: 914-640-8310

Email: mark.ricci

 

Christel DeHaan, CEO

Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Inc.

10 West Market Street, Suite1990

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Email: children

 

National Wild Turkey Federation, Inc

770 Augusta Road

Edgefield, SC 29824

Toll free phone: 1-800-THE-NWTF

Email: dhowlett

 

Iditarod race sponsors:

 

David F. Hodnik, CEO

Ace Hardware Corporation

2200 Kensington Ct.

Oak Brook, IL 60523

Phone: 630-990-6600

Fax: 630-990-6838

Email: hhc

 

Chris T. Sullivan, CEO

Outback Steakhouse

2202 N. Westshore Blvd., 5th Fl.

Tampa, FL 33607

Phone: 813-282-1225

Fax: 813-282-1209

Email message box: http://outback.com/email/ (Click: Contact Us)

 

John Wilson, CEO

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

Scarsdale Place, Kensington

London W8 5SR, United Kingdom

Phone: +44-20-7872-2444

Fax: +44-20-7872-2460

Email: marketing

 

Micky Arison, CEO

Carnival Corporation (Holland America Line)

3655 NW 87 Ave.

Miami, FL 33178

Phone: 1-888-227-6482 (toll free)

Fax: 305-406-4700

Email: gcahill

 

Joseph A. Pichler, CEO

Kroger Co. (Fred Meyer Stores)

1014 Vine St.

Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513-762-4000

Fax: 513-762-1160

Email: investors

 

Richard M. Kovacevich, CEO

Wells Fargo & Company

402 Montgomery Street

San Francisco, CA 94163

Phone: 1-800-411-4932 (toll free)

Fax: 415-677-9075

Email: investorrelations

 

Alan Lacy, CEO

Sears, Roebuck & Co.

3333 Beverly Road

Hoffman Estates, IL 60179

Phone: (847) 286-2500

Fax: (847) 286-7829

Email: invrel

 

Hermann J. Strenger, Chmn

Bayer (gives Iditarod free medications)

Werk Leverkusen 51368

Leverkusen, Germany

Phone: +49-214-30-58992

Fax: +49-214-307-1985

Email: juergen.beunink.jb

 

World Communication Center

1351 N. Alma School Road, Suite 205

Chandler, AZ 85224

US: 480 857 6656

Fax: 480 857 6898

Email: info

 

 

Sample letter for you to personalize:

 

Dear

 

I understand your company is associated with the Iditarod, and I would like

to bring some facts to your attention. This race is condemned by animal

protection groups and concerned animal lovers across the United States.

Please stop supporting this abusive race and all of the evils associated with

it.

 

Mushers treat their dogs abominably. In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run

1,150 miles over a grueling terrain in 9 to 14 days, which is the approximate

distance between Orlando and New York City. Dog deaths and injuries are

common in the race. USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno called the

Iditarod " a travesty of grueling proportions " and " Ihurtadog. " Fox

sportscaster Jim Rome called it " I-killed-a-dog. " Orlando Sentinel sports

columnist George Diaz said the race is " a barbaric ritual " and " an illegal

sweatshop for dogs. " USA Today business columnist Bruce Horovitz said the

race is a " public-relations minefield. "

 

Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website

http://www.helpsleddogs.org to see pictures, and for more information. Be

sure to read the quotes on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm. All of

the material on the site is true and verifiable.

 

At least 117 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of

dog deaths available for the race's early years. In WinterDance: the Fine

Madness of Running the Iditarod, Gary Paulsen describes witnessing an

Iditarod musher brutally kicking a dog to death during the race. He wrote,

" All the time he was kicking the dog. Not with the imprecision of anger, the

kicks, not kicks to match his rage but aimed, clinical vicious kicks. Kicks

meant to hurt deeply, to cause serious injury. Kicks meant to kill. "

 

Causes of death have also included strangulation in towlines, internal

hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and

pneumonia. " Sudden death " and " external myopathy, " a fatal condition in which

a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise,

have also occurred. The 1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was accused of

striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal claw). In

1996, one of Rick Swenson's dogs died while he mushed his team through

waist-deep water and ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both mushers

from the race but later reinstated them. In many states these incidents would

be considered animal cruelty.

 

In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by

inmates and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and

died. Another dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.

 

Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40

years, tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:

 

" They've had the hell beaten out of them. " " You don't just whisper into their

ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.' They

understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the

same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And

you know what? They are all lying. " -USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon

Saraceno's column

 

Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing

Manual, " I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that

" ‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.' " " Nagging a dog team is

cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all

but is effective. " " It is a common training device in use among dog

mushers...A whip is a very humane training tool. "

 

Mushers believe in " culling " or killing unwanted dogs, including puppies.

Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted

for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to

death. " On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with

baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses..... "

wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper

(March, 2000).

Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, " He [Colonel Tom

Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain

their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens. Or

dragging them to their death. "

 

The race has led to the proliferation of concentration-camp-like dog kennels

in which the dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs

and some have as many as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their

entire lives outside tethered to metal chains that can be as short as four

feet long. In 1997 the United States Department of Agriculture determined

that the tethering of dogs was inhumane and not in the animals' best

interests. The chaining of dogs as a primary means of enclosure is prohibited

in all cases where federal law applies. A dog who is permanently tethered is

forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his

natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area. Because he is close

to his own to his own fecal material, a dog can easily catch deadly

parasitical diseases by stepping in or sniffing his own waste.

 

The Alaska SPCA has called for an end to the breeding and culling (killing)

of these dogs. Iditarod dogs are unhappy prisoners with no chance of parole.

Please end your company's association with the Iditarod dog sled race.

 

Sincerely,