Letter asking for the banning of the Iditarod

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world...indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead "My doctrine is this: that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and we do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt." Anna Sewell, English Novelist "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." Pythagoras "What I think about vivisection is that if people admit that they have the right to take or endanger the life of living beings for the benefit of many, there will be no limit for their cruelty." Leo Tolstoy "There are two categories of doctors and scientists supporting vivisection. Those that know nothing about it and those who profit from it". Dr Werner Hartinger "For the animals it is an eternal Treblinka!" Isaac Singer "How convenient that we (the 'good' people) love and protect cats and dogs while them (the 'bad' people) eat our four-legged friends. How convenient that we (the 'good' people) like our lamb with mint jelly, thank you. Let us put an end to this racist, culture bound hypocrisy. Eat cat and dog flesh? Unthinkable! Eat lamb or any other kind of flesh? No less so. Do the right thing. Go vegan!" Tom Regan, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, North Carolina State University "There will come a day when such men as myself will view the slaughter of innocent creatures as horrible a crime as the murder of his fellow man. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty". Albert Einstein "If we are extremists, then we are not ashamed of it, the conditions that our people suffer are extreme and an extreme illness cannot be cured by moderate medicine". Malcolm X "For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings, they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the Earth". Henry Beston "He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Immanuel Kant "Animals have feelings but in themselves those are not a proper object of respect. We have an indirect duty to respect animals not because of the animals feelings but because of the effects of the lack of respect towards animals would have on us and our behaviour". Immanuel Kant "It can truly be said: Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are the tormented souls." Arthur Schopenhauer

Sample Letter to Organisations, Sponsors and others to stop supporting or promoting the Iditarod

Dear :

I am very upset to learn that [name of company] is promoting the Iditarod.

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. Dog deaths and injuries are common in the race.

In almost all of the 29 Iditarod races, at least one dog death has occurred. The first race is reported to have resulted in the deaths of 15 to 19 dogs. In 1997, the Anchorage Daily News, which is a strong supporter of the race, admitted that "at least 107 (dogs) have died." Since that report, ten more dogs have died in the Iditarod, bringing the grand total of dogs who have died in the Iditarod to at least 117. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race's early years and this count relies only on a reported number of deaths.

Causes of death have included strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and pneumonia. "Sudden death" and "external myopathy," a condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also occurred.

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. Dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head. Dogs are skinned for their fur, which is then used on mittens and parkas.

Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website http://www.helpsleddogs.org to see pictures and for more information. I strongly urge you to stop promoting this cruel "sport."

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Address]

Please write to all sponsors of the Iditarod.