OPINION & EDITORIAL
Iditarod race maddest part of March
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by Dave McGrath
Thursday, March 15, 2007
With the NCAA tournament about to get underway and the anticipation and excitement of the best four days in sports just around the corner, it can be difficult to see the big picture at times. While the Big Dance is about to get underway, the true madness of March just finished.
Some Huskies are missing.
No, I'm not talking about the Connecticut Huskies, who missed both the NCAA and NIT tournaments for the first time since shoes became fashionable.
What I'm talking about is the Iditarod, maybe the cruelest celebrated sporting event in America.
Every year, a bunch of yahoos and foreign "professionals" travel to Alaska to partake in a sled race with a pack of 16 or so dogs dragging a sled, the musher and supplies over 1,150 grueling miles in eight to 15 days. Yeah, 1,150 miles in as little as eight days, which averages out to about 140 miles a day, or on the high end, "just" 70 miles. This is done all in the name of tradition, commemorating the 1925 serum run, where relays of dog teams delivered much needed diphtheria serum from Anchorage to Nome.
In that relay, no dog ran more than 92 miles, so to say that the Iditarod is something of an exaggeration is like calling Britney Spears' locks just slightly trimmed.
Now, being the proud owner of a 2-year-old, rambunctious Labrador myself, I find this to be nothing short of appalling.
It would be sickening enough to have these animals drag these so-called "sportsmen" — much like Hitler was a peace monger — around in 50-60 degree weather. No such luck for the poor hounds, which are forced to do said dragging in often sub-zero temperatures, blizzards and howling winds. On second thought, that might be the animals howling.
In 1997, the Anchorage Daily News reported that at least 107 dogs had died in the running of the Iditarod, and since that time at least 23 dog deaths are on record, meaning at least 130 dogs have been literally driven into the ground in the name of this sport.
It isn't as if the rest of the dogs are fine, either. On average, half of the dogs that start the grievous gauntlet are unable to finish due to complications such as spinal injuries, bone fractures, sore and cut paws, ruptured tendon sheaths, torn muscles, sore joints, dehydration, stress and diarrhea.
Sounds like fun, huh?
And that is just in the big event. Mushers often have dozens of dogs around training, hoping to pull out a strong team from among them. Culling — aka killing — unwanted or useless animals is common practice.
Those who take part in the race say that it is a tradition and that the dogs love running.
If this race is a tradition, it goes alongside such pastimes as sacrificing your first child and throwing Christians to lions. Just because it is a tradition doesn't make it less atrocious.
As for the dogs loving it, I'm sure that all dogs enjoy a good run and exercise. My pup is never happier than when she is sprinting outside for an hour or so chasing objects — animate or otherwise — that dare capture her attention.
In fact, I bet she'd love to run a mile or two, maybe even five on a cool day if some water were around.
But 1,150 in a week? I'm pretty sure she'd just as soon chew on a spinach-flavored rawhide.
Just yesterday, Jeff Mackey became the third member of his family to win the Iditarod. He was trumpeted as "Incredible" Jeff Mackey, the cancer survivor. I find it unthinkable that somebody so lucky to be alive would spend his time torturing and abusing canines just to win a race. Now that's incredible.
The Iditarod calls itself "The Last Great Race on Earth." If that's the case, let all "great races" be extinct.
Dave McGrath (dmcgrath@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in journalism and English. He is also the sports editor of The Badger Herald.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 7:41am):
Do the dog sleds have wheels now because of global warming?
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 8:40am):
Do some research, my friend. While the Iditarod has the largets purse and is the longest race, the "Yukon Quest" run Fairbanks, AK and Whitehorse, Canada, is the "toughest sled-dog race in the world."
You make a emotional case about dog abuse. But you don't mention any supporting facts. Also, you don't mention the Vets located at the mandatory stops, or the fact that dogs are medically evacuated via aircraft if the Vet deems them at risk.
It does take a special type of person to mush for weeks on end. It's wrong to categorize the race as "torture." If you don't believe me, just show a harness to a sled dog and he/she will go NUTS WITH EXCITEMENT. They love to pull...
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 11:57am):
Yeah, it's like saying how terrible is the jungle for the tiger based on your experience with your kitty.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 12:43pm):
Dave is right to oppose the Iditarod, a race with a long, well-documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and injuries. For more facts: http://www.helpsleddogs.org
Charlene Inglis (March 15, 2007 @ 1:12pm):
THANK HEAVENS for a columnist with a brain, and a moral compass. I have to wonder what's in it for all the empty suits who write those elaborately concocted puff-pieces about this egregiously cruel "sport." There's nothing sporting about forcing dogs to work themselves to death. Thank you, Dave. You are a hero, and hopefully an inspiration for others to speak the truth instead of spreading the conveniently self-serving propaganda.
Doubting Thomases can visit: http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/facts_about_the_iditarod.html
Christine Burton (March 15, 2007 @ 1:20pm):
Dave should get the facts right, the name Jeff Mackey, there isn't one in the race at all, the winner was Lance.
I think you need to know more about what you are writing about before you start.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 3:17pm):
Even if one dog suffers for this race it is cruel, and it clear that many do suffer and many die. Animals should not be driven to death for sport. That is the very reason every U.S. state has outlawed dogfighting and nearly every one cockfighting. People need to be aware that these sleddogs are being used as props in a cruel competition where participants treat the animals as a hockey player treats a puck.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 3:43pm):
I wish Dave would have spoken more about how mushers breed large numbers of dogs to get 3 to 5 good racers. The unwanted dogs are shot, drowned, dragged to death, etc.
Big deal the article had a typo with the first name of the winner.
Bravo to Dave for telling the truth about Iditarod cruelties!
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 3:58pm):
Is it morally OK if you run the dogs to death THEN eat them? I don't see the difference between dog meat and cow meat.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 4:38pm):
This is a columnist with a heart AND a brain. The Iditarod is animal cruelty and I'm glad someone addressed it. Excellent job.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 5:19pm):
I was just looking at the race archives. Do you know that many mushers breeze in and out of checkpoints in five minutes or less.
It's common sense: Teams of dogs aren't going to get physicals from the vets in such short time spans. The vets work to help the mushers, not the dogs.
Anonymous (March 15, 2007 @ 6:10pm):
In some place dogs are bred just to be eaten.
Cats are skinned alive, for the extra taste that the terror chemicals bring.
Anonymous (March 16, 2007 @ 11:10am):
Dogs die every year in this wretched race--every single year. And they don't even tally the ones who die after the race is over. Three died this year alone. One died of "acute pneumonia" and another other died of "acute hemorrhage" from a bleeding ulcer (they don't know yet what the third one died of). Can you imagined being forced to run a marathon--no, several marathons--with pneumonia, or while you are bleeding to death? For God's sake, people, if that doesn't qualify as cruelty, what does?
David Rhodes (March 17, 2007 @ 12:28pm):
Ah the wisdom of Mr. McGrath. To be in Wisconsin where cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese are raised by the millions for their utilitarian value as food after being slaughtered. Sled dogs are bred and exist solely for racing, something that comes naturally to them. Whatever else, they know the joy of doing what they love to the fullest for most of their lives, not forced to spend years penned up in frustration in a mid-western suburban back yard. Anyway, sled dogs would make lousy pets. If you tried to pen one up in a mid-western back yard, it would probably either chew its way through a fence or tunnel under it to escape and....RUN.
Anonymous (March 17, 2007 @ 7:46pm):
Dave - Good for you for being one of the few journalists who recognizes animal cruelty when he sees it. You put the fool 'so-called' journalists at the major U.S. TV and radio networks (including NPR) to shame with their annual 'puff pieces' cheerleading for the Iditarod, while these most exploited and abused dogs suffer and die. In Canada we have a long-distance race known as the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race ("the toughest sled dog race in the world" is their motto - it certainly is tough on the dogs - they killed three dogs this year and injured many, many more). This year one of their most senior mushers asked for the Quest organization to require Quest mushers to disclose their dog culling (which includes killing unwanted puppies and dogs) policies - if they were culling/killing dogs, they should not be allowed to enter the race. A Quest spokesman responded that it was not the Quest organization's business what Quest mushers (mostly based in Yukon and Alaska) did with their dogs. Can't believe how many ignorant people there are in this world who defend and promote animal cruelty. Glad you are not one of them Dave. For you ignoramuses, spend some serious time at helpsleddogs.org and sleddogwatchdog.com.
Anonymous (March 18, 2007 @ 10:06pm):
Many Alaskans also are horrified and embarrassed at this dog-killing spectacle
A fake "sport" for the lazy and stupid
But where there is a fast buck to be found, you will find criminal animal abusers spouting a lot of lies about "tradition."
It's just business.
Anonymous (March 31, 2007 @ 2:48pm):
None of these posts were made by someone who has seen the Iditarod with their own eyes. Dogs aren't being forced to run, it isn't cruelty, and dog aren't killed when they don't make "the cut" as a puppy. You go onto any musher's website and they have retired dogs and other puppys that they are giving away. Also, those who speak foolishly about abuse have no idea what they are talking about. If the Iditarod truly is all about money, why would a musher abuse a dog that is worth sometimes up to $3000? The fact of the matter is (again, something I've seen with my own eyes) that mushers love and adore each of their dogs. Mushers like Susan Butcher and Rick Swenson taught us that true sled dog champions are the ones who take the best care of their dogs. They do this out of passion. Why else would 82 teams enter, half of them usually being rookies who know they have no opportunity to win any money. They just want the experience and to have watch these awesome dogs do what they do best.....run.
http://sunhusky.com/Facts/
Anonymous (October 11, 2007 @ 8:15pm):
Sunhusky.com - you are always trolling the internet defending those who exploit sled dogs. Shame on you, you are a propagandist for sled dog cruelty and dog killers.
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