The annual Iditarod race will begin on March 2, 2013 in Alaska, in which sled dogs are forced to pull a sled over 1,100 miles in the freezing cold Alaska wilderness. These canines are usually running over 100 miles per day, which is extremely taxing on their bodies. According to Animal Legal Defense Fund’s website:
“Dogs suffer heart attacks, pneumonia, muscle deterioration, dehydration, diarrhea, and spine injuries. They are impaled on sleds, drowned, or accidentally strangled. During the off-season the dogs are crowded into small kennels with no state management or oversight. Many are tethered on short chains at all times, unable to play, forced to sit, stand, and lie in the same small area in which they eat and defecate—conditions that cause untold emotional and physical stress. When these ‘money-makers’ are no longer profitable, they are destroyed, as are the puppies who aren’t qualified to race. The Sled Dog Action Coalition notes that the dogs often aren’t even humanely euthanized, but merely shot in the head.”
image: AP Photo
In some states, the actions taken against these dogs could be construed as animal cruelty, and the ALDF is mounting a campaign to urge corporate sponsors to pull out of this annual event. No money=no race=no animals suffering. Click here to learn more about this and how you can help.
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