In the wake of the reported mass killing of sled dogs in Whistler, Lush cosmetics has joined with the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) in a bid to put an end to dog sledding in B.C. with a campaign called "Paws and Listen."
Customers stopping in at the Whistler Village Lush store this month are being encouraged by staff to sign postcards to be delivered to the provincial government expressing outrage over incident.
"We really want to ensure what happened in Whistler does not happen again," said New York-based Lush representative Brandi Hall by phone. "And we believe the only way to ensure that is if we call for an all-out ban on races and tours in B.C."
According to Hall, the response from not only the company's staff, but customers as well, prompted the company to get involved.
"We had customers coming into our B.C. locations as well as our own staff contacting head office to say that they were passionate about this issue and really wanted to do something about it," said Hall.
In conjunction with the postcards, Lush has also released a limited edition "Paws" soap, fashioned in the image of a dog paw, and all proceeds from sales of the soap will go to the VHS.
According to a Lush press release, the soap "represents the paw prints of all the lost and suffering dogs of the sledding industry."
"We thought long and hard about the request we'd be making of the public and it's certainly not anything about sales or anything like that," said Hall. "This is purely about raising funds for the humane society and their efforts."
When approached for a comment regarding the campaign to ban dog sledding in the province, Craig Beattie of Canadian Snowmobile — which offers sled dog tours in Whistler — responded with the following statement:
"Canadian Dogsled is in agreement that the industry is in need of a governing body and policies to prevent what has occurred with (Outdoor Adventures). The regulations will ensure the safety of these animals.
"It us unfortunate that an isolated incident has tarnished such a great industry," he added.
When asked if all dog sledding companies were being vilified because of the Outdoor Adventures incident, Hall said, "This particular company is certainly an extreme example. It shows what can happen when animals are bred for profit, and anyone who's treating their dogs fairly right now, what happens when business is slow? Their welfare becomes at risk when a company can't afford to look after them properly. Ultimately when an animal is bred for profit, you're putting them in a very vulnerable position."
For more on this story, check out Thursday's print edition of The Question .
