Tell World Wildlife Fund to Ditch Cruel Dog Race!

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has partnered with musher Martin Buser during this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as a means to document the effects of global warming.

The Iditarod is marked by cruelty, injuries, and death. Dogs die every year in the 1,150-plus-mile race from causes including hypothermia, gastric ulcers, and "sled dog myopathy"...literally being run to death. Forced to run for hours at a time with only a few brief intervals for rest, dogs are subjected to subzero temperatures, biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and falls through treacherous ice into frigid water. Their feet become bruised, bloodied, and cut by ice. Many dogs pull muscles, incur stress fractures, or become sick with diarrhea, dehydration, or intestinal viruses.

At least two dogs have already died in this year's race: Zaster, a 7-year-old male, died of pneumonia on March 8, and the next day, a 3-year-old female named Lorne was killed when a snowmachiner ran into a dog team on the Yukon River. In addition, two dogs were abandoned by their musher when they left the team and she was unable to locate them. In 2007, at least three dogs perished, one dog went missing for 11 days, and a musher was disqualified from the race for allegedly kicking his dogs and beating them with ski poles. Four dogs died in 2006, and at least three dogs died in 2005.

Urge the WWF to cancel plans to use the Iditarod in its climate change project. Let the WWF know that the Iditarod results in suffering and death.

Please keep all correspondence polite, as anything less will hurt our efforts.