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Iditarod or "IKilledADog"?
The Iditarod is run every March in Alaska.
If you are not familiar with this "event", it is a 1,150 mile
"race" in which mushers (dog handlers) run a team of dogs
between Anchorage and Nome supposedly to "honor" the run in
which dog sled teams were responsible for delivering diphtheria serum to
save lives in 1925.
There is a purse of over half a million dollars
($525,000 in 2000) divided up among the top 30 finishers and the tourist
trade considers the Iditarod to be a big boon to their profits every year.
However, there are some facts that never get out
to the public concerning this "race". Nobody hears about
the animals that die every year. They don't know the conditions
these dogs are raised in. Nobody hears about "culling" a
practice in which unwanted puppies and older/slower dogs are killed
because they aren't useful in making money for the musher.
First of all, the Iditarod is not recreation
mushing. Recreational mushing is for fun and exercise and takes the
dog's best interests into consideration. Siberian Huskies and mixes
love to run and pull. Done in the right way, it is not harmful to
the dog, but taking it to an extreme kills and brutalizes the dogs.
The Iditarod race isn't anything like the 1925
Anchorage to Nome run to deliver diptheria serum which it's supposed to
"honor". The serum run was to save lives. This race does nothing
but provide "entertainment" and make money for a lot of people,
from the mushers to the tourist-related businesses.
During the 1925 serum run, the serum was actually
moved by train for over half the distance and then by dogs, but in relays
with only a few dogs going more than a 100 mile stretch. The Iditarod runs
the dogs 1,150 miles in a time of between 9 and 14 days over land that is
way more grueling and harsh than what was run for the serum delivery.
Many of the mushers who participate in this brutal
race raise their dogs in conditions not unlike what we see in typical
"puppy mills". The dogs live in poor conditions and aren't given
the human contact that they should have. They spend their entire lives
outsides, tied on short metal chains, usually no longer than 3 or 4 feet,
attached to stakes. Sometimes a hundred puppies are born in a year, yet
some kennels only have around 100 dogs total. Where do the ones who
don't "make the cut" as a top sled dog go? Some may be
sold, but there is a well-accepted practice called "culling" --
unwanted dogs are killed, as well as older and/or slower dogs.
Is it "sportsman-like" to taking an animal that would do anything in it's power to please it's owner
and exploiting that trait in order to pad someone's pocket with money? The
mushers claim they "love their dogs" and "take good care of
them", but is their incentive for care really to protect an investment?
Proponents claim that the information on some
websites opposed to the race are exaggerated. Possible. But
writers from USA Today Sports and Fox,
among
many others, have gone on the record and spoken out about the conditions and the
race documenting deaths and abuse.
Corporate sponsors, including Tyson Foods, Home Depot, Pizza Hut and more, have
withdrawn
sponsorship of the race or individual mushers.
If you aren't familiar with many of the facts that
the public doesn't hear about the Iditarod, or the race in general, visit
The Sled Dog Action Coalition Support their work to
protect the sled dogs from this horrendous abuse and death.
If you are appalled at what is happening, spread
the word. If you have a website, please add a link to the Sled Dog
Action Coalition. Let
corporate
sponsor who still associate with the race know that you don't support
it.
Horse racing takes the natural instincts of the
animal and exploits it - run as hard as you can as quickly as you can to
win money for a human owner. Bad enough in a lot of ways, but if a
team of horses was strapped to a fully loaded wagon, forced to run as hard
as they can, as fast as they can, through extreme, unpredictable weather
for 1,150 miles, were raised in the conditions parallel to what the
Iditarod dogs are raised in, were medicated in order to mask pain and
injuries, and were killed and injured along the way, there would be a
public outcry. Why are these dogs any different?
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