Animal rights activists campaigning against the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race are getting personal this year. A group of them are focusing on one individual musher and waging an electronic war against one of his sponsors. Healy musher Ramy Brooks, who will be the first musher to leave the start line this morning in downtown Anchorage, is calling on family and friends to help him fight an e-mail battle against activists who are pressing the East Coast headquarters of one of his sponsors to pull its support. Brooks, 31, said the corporate headquarters for AmeriGas in Valley Forge, Pa., has been flooded with e-mails telling the company to pull its sponsorship. "I guess I assume they are thinking that we are mistreating dogs or not taking good enough care of the dogs. Whatever their reasoning is, I think it is wrong," Brooks said. In the mid-1990s, pressure from animal rights groups caused two of the race's biggest sponsors - Timberland Co. and Iams Co. - to pull their support. The two companies represented about a quarter of the Iditarod's budget then. The Iditarod recovered by luring new sponsors not so wary of criticism and potential boycotts by animal rights activists. The race looked to Alaska businesses, which cater to consumers who generally love the Iditarod, and national sponsors like Cabelas, which produces hunting, fishing and other outdoors gear. Now some activists are taking their fight to a smaller scale by targeting AmeriGas, from which Brooks receives sponsorship via the local office in Fairbanks. So far, the fight is a draw. Corporate headquarters chose to listen to the activists and told its Fairbanks office to pull its support of Brooks. But the Fairbanks office decided to continue its support. "I am not going to withdraw my sponsorship," said Victor Hughes, sales and service manager at the AmeriGas office in Fairbanks. "I have chosen to go my own way with this and take what comes. I know Ramy, and I know his dog care and he's won honorable mention for dog care. I couldn't think of a better person to sponsor." Comment from AmeriGas' corporate offices was not available. In 1996, Brooks won the Alaska Airlines Eddy Hoffman Humanitarian Award for the best dog care in the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race, said Greg Loudon, his business manager. The AmeriGas sponsorship of Brooks consists of selling him some appliances at cost this year after he built a cabin, plus setting up some propane tanks for free and giving him a free fill-up, Hughes said. Loss of AmeriGas support, however, could hurt. Brooks, who is competing in his sixth Iditarod, said it costs him about $100,000 a year to run the race. "It is not a big sponsor. But all our sponsors, small or big, are a big part of how we get to the start of the race. It is not going to affect our race this year, but any support we lose is a step backward," said Brooks, the winner of last year's Yukon Quest. Brooks and Hughes said they hope the sport's supporters will tell AmeriGas how they feel. "I think it is important for me to say something so that the people who are supportive of us can voice their opinions," Brooks said.
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