Susan Lucci, Joan Rivers, Gary Collins and his wife Mary Ann Mobley participated in the  "Iditarider" program which raised $97,000 for the 1999 Iditarod. "Iditariders" purchase seats in mushers' sleds for the ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage. Since her ride, Lucci has  spoken on talk-shows, including Good Morning America, in glowing terms about her experience in the Iditarod. Charles Gibson, a host of this show, said he wants to be an "Iditarider" in 2000.

Celebrities who participate in the "Iditarider" program are condoning the cruelties of the Iditarod and the Iditarod kennels.

Please write to these celebrities and ask them not to support this race.

 

Sample letter to celebrity supporters Dear Please do not support the "Iditarider" program which is designed raise money for the Iditarod dog sled race.  By supporting this program, you are condoning the cruelties of the Iditarod and the Iditarod kennels. In the Iditarod dog kennels, many are dogs are permanently  tethered on chains as short as four feet long. Tethering is cruel and inhumane because: 1) Continuous chaining psychologically damages dogs and makes many of them very aggressive animals. 2) A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area. 3) Because the chained dog is always close to his own fecal material, he can easily catch deadly parasitic diseases by stepping in or sniffing his own waste. 4) Even if the fecal matter is picked up, the area where the dog can move about becomes hard-packed dirt that carries the stench of animal waste. The odor and the waste attract flies which bite the dog's ears, often causing serious bloody wounds and permanent tissue damage. 5) In 1996, the United States Department of Agriculture said "Our experience in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act has led us to conclude that continuous confinement of dogs by a tether is inhumane." The permanent chaining of dogs is prohibited in all cases when federal law applies. Here are facts about the Iditarod: 1) Dogs have died in the Iditarod from strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging, liver injury, heart failure, pneumonia, "sudden death," and "exertional myopathy," a condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise. The Iditarod Trail Committee provides inadequate veterinary care during the race. For example, in the 1999 Iditarod, a three year old male dog died of acute pneumonia. His life would have been saved had his illness been properly treated. Other dogs die after the race from infection, exhaustion or other causes. Many dogs return to their kennels permanently disabled and are shot by their musher. 2) In the Iditarod dogs are forced to race approximately 1,150 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska about the distance between LA and Denver in 9 to 14 days. Mushers claim the dogs love to run, because they are distantly related to wolves. However, in nature wolves never run so far and so fast. Sports columnist Jon Saraceno  wrote in the Sports Section of  USA Today on March 3, 1999 that the Iditarod should be called the "Ihurtadog," calling it a "travesty of grueling proportions," an "embarrassment," and "an outrage that should be banned in its present form." Sincerely,

Contact Information for celebrities who support the Iditarod race:

Susan Lucci
All My Children
ABC
77 W. 66th St.
New York, NY 10023
Email: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

Charles Gibson
Good Morning America
ABC
77 W. 66th St.
New York, NY 10023
Email: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

Joan Rivers
Comcast Corp. (E! Entertainment)
1500 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102-2148
Phone: 1-800-326-6228
Email: [email protected]

 

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