The Iditarod should end. This treacherous, unnecessary race is exploitative and cruel to the dogs in many ways. It kills dogs just about every year; the total known is 146. Dog deaths average about two per race. They are raced beyond their limits. Six dogs died in 2009. Two dogs (Stiffy and Wyatt, both only three years old) died on "champion" Mackey's team one year. Many dogs do not finish the race every year. The dogs are dropped due to injury, illness, exhaustion, or not wanting to continue. Mushers finish with only half (or less) of the 16, and some finish with only 5 dogs.

These dogs are chained (considered inhumane and illegal in many communities) their entire lives to their small, dilapidated enclosures, unable to play or interact with their kennel mates, unless they are training,—all at the behest of their mushers. They are treated as slaves at the ready to perform.