Tough sledding
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:
The United Coalition of
Iditarod Animal Rights Volunteers is
asking that letters be sent to sponsors of
the 1,100-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog
sled race, asking them to either withdraw
or back rules that would require teams to
be rested at all checkpoints; disqualify
mushers who have a dog die during the
race; bar competitors from holding orga-
nizing or officiating posts; and require
independent drug testing of dogs. The
major sponsors include Chrysler Corp.,
12000 Chrysler Drive, Highland Park, MI
48288-0857; IAMS, 7250 Poe Ave.,
Dayton, OH 45414-5801; Timberland,
P.O. Box 5050, Hampton, NH 03842-
5050; and ABC Wide World of Sports,
47 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023.
ABC is withholding a payment
of $40,000 to the Iditarod Trail Committee
for exclusive rights to televise the 1993
race because the ITC allowed ESPN,
owned by the same holding company as
ABC, to broadcast a two-minute news
segment. The ITC has also received notice
that it will not receive $50,000 it expected
to get from Stephan Fine Arts as a royalty
on the sale of official Iditarod art prints,
due to poor sales.
Staff of the Matanuska-Susitna
Borough animal shelter in Alaska recent-
ly found the remains of 41 dogs of all ages
and several different breeds along road-
sides near Misty Lake, Big Lake, and
Sutton. The dogs had been shot multiple
times. Believed to be culled sled dogs,
none had the microchips used to identify
Iditarod participants.
