ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — One of the Iditarod’s top sponsors is dropping financial support, the second major sponsor with Alaska ties to sever relationships with the sled dog race this month.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles confirmed Monday that the Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership will no longer sponsor the race. The dealership for 30 years has been one of the race’s principal partners and annually presents the race winner with a new pickup at the finish line in Nome.

A statement from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA, noted the parent company did not sponsor the Iditarod.

“Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center – an independently owned and operated dealership – had been a sponsor of the race. We understand and can confirm the dealership will no longer continue sponsoring the race. As such, FCA and the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram logos will no longer be associated with the race,” the statement said.

Chuck Talksy, a spokesman for the Anchorage dealership, initially said they planned to sponsor the race again next year, finances permitting.

Later, when informed of Chrysler’s statement, he said, “That’s kind of news to us. As a franchisee, we are subject to various controls.”

An email to Iditarod officials seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The announcement came as mushers are making the final push for Nome in this year’s race. The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race started March 8 in Willow with 57 mushers. Six have withdrawn.

Thomas Waerner of Norway was leading the race, the first musher to reach the checkpoint in Koyuk, about 150 miles from the finish line.

Alaska Airlines, the Seattle-based airline that got its start decades ago in Alaska, earlier this month announced it was dropping its sponsorship of the race, which has been targeted by an animal rights group.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was first to announce the departure of both Alaska Airlines and Chrysler as race sponsors.

The group says the nearly 1,000-mile race across Alaska is cruel for the dogs.

It also claims more than 150 dogs have died since the race started in 1973. Iditarod officials dispute that number but have not provided their own count of dogs who died on the trail despite numerous requests by The Associated Press.

PETA is the race’s biggest critic and has for years targeted sponsors. In Chrysler’s case, that includes more than a quarter million emails from PETA supporters, television ads in the Detroit area and protesters dragging a sled filled with fake dead dogs around downtown Detroit, the organization said in a statement.

“After feeling some real pressure from PETA, Chrysler put the brakes on its connection with the Iditarod and is sending the message that dogs deserve better than being run to death for mushers’ prize money,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “Alaska Airlines has also withdrawn its sponsorship of this wretched race in which over 150 dogs have died, and we hope this year is the last year dogs will suffer in this way.”

Alaska Airlines denied PETA had anything to do with its decision to drop sponsorship of the race after more than 40 years and instead said it was a change in the company’s corporate giving strategy.

PETA is the race’s biggest critic and has for years targeted sponsors. In Chrysler’s case, that includes more than a quarter million emails from PETA supporters, television ads in the Detroit area and protesters dragging a sled filled with fake dead dogs around downtown Detroit, the organization said in a statement.

https://www.businessinsider.com/iditarod-loses-another-major-sponsor-2020-3

And I mean…THANK YOU! Another step that brings the end of the animal cruelty event closer.

The Iditarod is worse than a nightmare for dogs!

The animals run about 160 kilometers a day and are only allowed to rest for almost 40 hours over a period of two weeks. The race takes place in the deepest winter and brings the dogs to the limit. Many are injured, fall into ice water, break down or get sick. Their paws get sore from the many races and often their muscles give up at some point.

The dogs have no legal protection in Alaska. People can go out into the woods and shoot their dog for whatever reason. Sometimes that might be injury, sometimes it’s because they’re too old to race. The mushers make remarks like, ‘”this guy isn’t running so well, we’re gonna get rid of him”,  as if he’s a piece of furniture or a machine.

And these people are lauded in the public eye.

In the racing industry of animals, killing is common; once they get sick, weak, old, or injured, they are eliminated without crying an eye for them
And when the dogs are not running, they are usually kept in small cages.

We can only hope that this mortal torture will soon come to an end.
The Alaska Neanderthals, the mushers, should do the route themselves, which helps to stay fit and healthy.

My best regards to all, Venus

You Are Our Lifeline!

WAV Comment – 18/3     – I have just donated to Animals Lebanon to try to help them with the crisis they are facing.   I ask you please to give something if you are able;

Thanks

Mark

Dear Supporters,

With Lebanon’s crippling economic crisis and severe bank restrictions – and now Coronavirus – the situation is desperate.

Planned fundraising events have been cancelled since October when the nationwide protests started.

Costs for food, supplies and veterinary care have risen by more than 30%. People are abandoning their pets due to this sudden inflation. Others have dumped their pets due to misconception about Coronavirus.

Two bears, a lion, a hyena and a wallaby were all on their way to sanctuaries. These animals are now stuck as the airlines stop flights.

Despite all hardships, saving animals never stops, and we need you now more than ever.

We have updated our website to accommodate all kind of donations

Supporters in Lebanon can donate online in LBP or USD here

International supporters can donate through PayPal here – Note that you MUST write ‘Animals Lebanon’ on the PayPal page where it asks ‘Add special instructions to the seller’.

We are not stopping but we need significant help to get through this situation.
 
You are our lifeline.

The following are links to 2 different ways that you can donate:

https://www.animalslebanon.org/donate

https://www.animalslebanon.org/get-involved/more-ways-to-give

🟢⚪🔴
🟢⚪🔴Endure Italia! Everything is coming to an end, even the Corona invasion!

Regards and a good night from Venus

Eyewitness video footage shows elephants who were forced to participate in the cruel Chitwan Elephant Festival in Nepal being repeatedly struck and gouged with bullhooks—spear-like weapons with a sharp hook on one end—and their ears being violently yanked.

Mahouts (handlers) also beat frightened elephants with other weapons, such as sticks and makeshift wooden knives.

One mahout can be seen repeatedly jabbing a baby elephant behind the ear to force her to “play” soccer. Right after the match, eyewitnesses saw that she had several fresh, painful, bloody wounds.

When these elephants aren’t being forced to perform at this festival, they’re used for rides by tourists visiting Chitwan. Elephants who are forced to “play” polo or give rides are controlled through physical violence and psychological domination.

They’re chained and beaten with bullhooks or other weapons and constantly threatened with violence to keep them afraid and submissive.

Elephants used for polo games, rides, shows, and other forms of entertainment suffer tremendously. Even when not performing, they’re typically deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them.

If we take an honest look at the reality of life in captivity for elephants compared to the life that they would have in nature, we can see that the “trainers” have utterly degraded these magnificent animals.

Elephants are highly social beings who thrive in matriarchal herds, protecting each other, caring for their babies, and traveling many miles a day.

They experience joy, sadness, and fear. Their rituals of mourning the deaths of family members rival any that humans have developed. But throughout Nepal, baby elephants are routinely beaten and subjected to other egregiously cruel forms of “training.”

Their complex emotional states and multifaceted relationships are left in tatters.

Using these majestic, endangered animals in silly spectacles is shameful. Nepal should be focused on protecting them in their natural habitats, not exploiting them for human amusement.

Last year, more than a dozen companies dropped their support of the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament in Thailand after a PETA Asia eyewitness exposé revealed abuse similar to that documented in Nepal, and the tournament’s organizers ceased their operations in Thailand—making the Chitwan Elephant Festival the only event in the world in which elephants are shamefully abused for and forced to “play” polo.

And for good reason—others have recognized the cruelty inherent in making elephants perform and have stopped abusing animals.

The Chitwan Elephant Festival also hurts Nepal’s tourism industry.

Please fill out the form below to tell the Nepal Tourism Board that it’s in its best interest to cancel these cruel “games.”

Personalized letters always work best. Feel free to use the sample letter provided, but keep in mind that your letter will carry more weight if you write your own customized message and subject line.

Petition here in the link: https://investigations.peta.org/chitwan-elephant-festival/

And I mean…Those who are too lazy or too stupid to play football themselves choose the enslaved animals as substitutes, who definitely have more intelligence than all these primitive offenders.

So that every brain-sick tourist in his country can proud the experienced hero, elephants have to spend their lives in torture, slavery and daily humiliations.
Maybe our corona brings some good side effects in this regard.

Most will not travel anytime soon, nature and animals are recovering, and fear spoils any desire for exotic fun!

My best regards to all, Venus