Grace and Frankie star and Detroit native Lily Tomlin has sent a letter on PETA's behalf to the CEO of Chrysler urging him to push the company’s Anchorage, Alaska franchise to end its sponsorship of the Iditarod.
“The Iditarod has killed more than 150 dogs in its sordid history, a toll that doesn’t include those who died during training or while chained outside in the off-season,” writes Tomlin. “I’ve read that you’re a no-nonsense executive, so I respectfully urge you to distance Chrysler from this deadly, nonsensical spectacle in Alaska.”
A recent PETA exposé of two Iditarod champions’ dog-sledding operations revealed that dogs were denied veterinary care for painful injuries, kept constantly chained next to dilapidated boxes and plastic barrels in the bitter cold, and forced to run hundreds of miles despite exhaustion and dehydration.
Coca-Cola recently ended its Iditarod sponsorship, adding its name to a long list of companies — including Jack Daniel’s, Maxwell House, Costco, Nestlé, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, and Wells Fargo — that have cut ties with the race.
