ALERT: Panasonic now sponsoring cruel Iditarod - WRITE

March 6, 2007

PLEASE WRITE AND FORWARD WIDELY

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

Panasonic has just become an Iditarod race sponsor. Please help the Iditarod dogs by sending Panasonic protest emails. A sample letter and email addresses are below.

The Iditarod dogs are helpless victims of profoundly inhumane treatment and cannot speak for themselves. What happens to them during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, ruptured discs, viral diseases and pneumonia.

For the dogs, the Iditarod is a bottomless pit of suffering. Throughout this eight to 16-day competition, Iditarod personnel encourage mushers to race diseased dogs. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.

Veterinarians also work to help the mushers before the Iditarod begins. Although the dogs are often sick, veterinarians allow them to start the race anyway. One chief Iditarod veterinarian even published a musher/veterinary handbook advising mushers on how to avoid having prohibited substances detected in pre-race veterinary checks.

The email addresses for the other Iditarod supporters can be found on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/sponsors.htm . At the bottom of the page you'll find addresses in block with commas and semi-colons.

EMAIL PANASONIC: DemariaC, samuelsj

SAMPLE LETTER TO PANASONIC:

Dear Mr. Greenberg:

I protest your organization's support of the Iditarod dog sled race. For the dogs, this barbaric event is a bottomless pit of suffering. What happens to them during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, ruptured discs, viral diseases and pneumonia. Please end your involvement in this cruel race.

In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run 1,150 miles, which is the approximate distance between Miami, Florida and New York City. 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."

Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website http://www.helpsleddogs.org and be sure to read the quotes on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm . All the material on the site is true and verifiable.

Throughout this eight to 16-day competition, Iditarod personnel encourage mushers to race diseased dogs. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.

Veterinarians also work to help the mushers before the Iditarod begins. Although the dogs are often sick, veterinarians allow them to start the race anyway. One chief Iditarod veterinarian even published a musher/veterinary handbook advising mushers on how to avoid having prohibited substances detected in pre-race veterinary checks.

At least 130 dogs have died in the Iditarod. No one knows how many dogs die after this tortuous ordeal or during training.

On average, 52 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do finish, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.

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, March3, 2000 in Jon Saraceno's column.

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, including those who have outlived their usefulness, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to death. "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."

Please end your organization's association with this horrific race.

Sincerely,

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