The Sled Dog Action Coalition has a very informative website and reports on the facts of how the dogs are treated through their journey on the Alaska Dog Sledding race held each year.

The mushers or dog sled leaders receive corporate backing and through receiving financial benefits from appearing in corporate advertising and royalties from the sale of their books. The winning purse as they call it in 2000 was 525,000.00 dollars -a real draw to local Alaskans.

Does the Iditarod corporation who hold the race each year make a profit? You betcha. From what is reported and not confirmed this organization. Who are among the leading corporate sponsors? These woudl be those who namely Exxon and Wells Fargo amongst others.

The site also explains the abuse these dogs suffer in kennels and how the herd of Huskies are killed each year. Clearly this neaderathal abuse of dogs even in Alaska where people get bored -is unacceptable.

Corporations that promote this type of activity should be boycotted and shamed into giving up their corporate sponsorships with what literally amounts to animal abuse.

Here is the link: IDITAROD RACE FACTS

Courtesy of Sled Dog Action Coalition

TAGS: Sled Dog Action Coalition, Sled Dogs, Alaska Sled Dog Race, Iditarod Race Facts, Iditarod Dog Races, Dogs, Dog health, animal abuse, Exxon Mobil, Wells Fargo, PETA.

The 2009 Alaska dog sled race has ended with the highest death rate for dogs who participated in the Iditarod Dog Race.  Animal activists are protesting the inhumane treatment of the dogs that run in minus 50 degree weather for 1,100 miles.  The dogs run at 80 miles per hour and many face certain death in blizzards and storms along the route.

One racer Lou Packer raced through a challenging windy storm with deep snow that hid the trail markers but he did complete the race.
Packer mentioned he put clothing on the dogs and fed them cooked foods. Tracked by his wife at home through the Iditarod website she knew that there was a problem when his tracking showed no progress or his speed was slowing down. One of Packers dogs by the name of Grasshopper became lethargic and eventually died.

Another dog died later and Packer himself got frostbitten in his eyes.

Alaska Dog Sled Race Videos

The Alaska dog racing began nearly 40 years ago and since then 146 dogs have died pulling sleds 1,000 miles in sub zero weather.
Iditarod spokesperson Chas St. George said that in 1985 12 dogs died in a blizzard during a race which if you are a dog lover -one dog’s death in a pleasure sport is too many.

The dogs most often die from gastric ulcers no doubt due to the enormous stress put on their bodies and the freezing conditions must also  be a factor in their deaths. When dogs get ulcers it is indicative of high stress and reinforces the public outcry of this type of dog racing.  Two other dogs died of pulmonary edema the Anchorage Daily News reported. The edema was possibly caused by the cardiac irregularity stopped their hearts  from moving fluid out of the dog’s lungs .

A spokesperson from the Human Society Dave Pauli the Western Regional Director would like to see this race continue to celebrate the history and culture of Alaska.  Even Dr. Packer says he will continue with Iditarod even though he put his own dogs through tremendous amounts of stress and watched two of his dogs die in front of him.

Over 1,000 dogs each year must complete this race and the Human Society has given up on protesting it or has sided with the race. PETA has requested a criminal investigation by the Alaska State and Debbie Leahy the director indicates it is 1,000 miles of torture for the dogs with little regard to the dogs health.

PETA spokesperson Desiree Acholla indicated they were mounting a letter writing campaign to persuade sponsors to withdraw their support form Iditarod.

Two of those companies are Exxon Mobil and Wells Fargo who still continue to support the race financially through their sponsorships.
Officials at Iditarod made no response to PETA‘s request.

TAGS:  Alaska Iditarod Dog Race Kills 5 Dogs, dog health, dog sledding, dog race, Iditarod, Alaska dog sled race, Exxon Mobil, Wells Fargo, PETA, Desiree Acholla, Iditarod sponsorships by Exxon Mobil, Wells Fargo sponsors Iditarod dog sled race, Alaska Iditarod, dog healths.

What ever happened to the Michael Vick dogs that were trained to fight? Did they go through rehab, or did PETA want them destroyed?

Since last January the dogs apprehended from Michael Vick’s dog fighting compound on Moonlight Road in Smithville Virginia have been on a long road back to being rehabilitated to a better life,  but this did not happen over night or very quickly.

Michael Vick called his dog fighting operation “Bad Newz” and these dogs which numbered 51 have had a life of pain and alot more bad news than normal dogs.  The trainers on Moonlight Road often roughed up the dogs that did not fight by slammed them to the ground repeatedly until they died. Dogs that had no fight in them were shot, electrocuted, drowned, or hung by a rope and killed at the compound.

Their water bowls outdoors stank with green colored algae water and were kept hungry to make them meaner and leaner to fight. For exercise the dogs had to hang from a rubber ring to make their jaws stronger for long periods of time. These dogs were trained to kill each other and they were taunted to attack. The female dogs were tied down with ropes to be raped by the males for breeding purposes or perhaps the entertainment of the visitors. Dogs that were too young to fight were kept as bait for the older dogs to train on and this was the method to toughen up the younger dogs if they survived the attacks at all.

This blood sport as some call it, was for the entertainment of Vick and his friends although he never lived at this particular house it was a torturous hell for these pit bull dogs. The road away from Moonlight Road could only have been an improvement but could it?

The Vice President of the ASPCA Stephen Zawistowski stated that the dogs that lived through this brutality felt the trauma that was happening to the other dogs in the woods.  They endured those same feelings after hearing or knowing their mates were being killed or tortured through brainwaves. He stated that trauma is not only endured by the dog that is being killed, but by the dogs that heard the barking and screams of pain and were to endure more pain of their own.

Initially the dogs were taken to animal control facilities and kept separately in cages, for months they were feared and not let out of their cages. They stood in their own waste and squalor not knowing what their fate would be at the hands of their keepers because their cages were not cleaned at all. The dogs stood hunched over with heads lowered as if they felt something dreadful was going to happen to them. They did not want to venture out of their cages at all as bad things happened when they were let out. One dog was so frightened even while inside the cage it was very stressed out. Eventually a shelter worker put a blanket tent inside the cage to give the dog some comfort and to hide away from the world.

Surprisingly PETA called for the dogs to be put down stating that ……continued in tomorrow’s Post.

Tags: Michael Vick’s Dogs, ASPCA, PETA, agressive dogs, agressive dog training, abused dogs, dog, dog health.