Latest from the Iditarod

Friday, March 12, 2010

Posted by: Christopher Lagan

We’re pleased to announce that as of this posting Coast Guard sponsored musher Ken Anderson has moved into tenth place as he continues his epic journey across Alaska’s toughest terrain in the 2010 Iditarod.

Here is the latest update from his blog as reported by Ken’s wife and fellow musher Gwen Holdmann:

I did get to speak to Ken on his 24 hour layover and apparently he badly damaged his sled as he was leaving Rohn after resting 5-1/2 hours. There was a lot of glare ice and wind on the first stretch, and his sled was blown sideways causing him to hit a stump that was sticking out of the ice. It catapulted him over the handlebars, ripped out both of the cross pieces, and did major damage to the bed of the sled as well. He had no choice but to turn around and go back to the checkpoint, where he spent some time on repairs. Ken did have one spare stanchion along, but he had to fashion a second one out of an old axe handle using only his Leatherman tool. He figures he lost about 1 hour and 40 minutes in the process, and would have left Rohn with the leaders had it not been for that incident. He was still pretty positive about it, and hopes the extra rest will help his team stay strong as the race progresses. Once he got to Takotna, his sled was pretty damaged from all the tussocks and rough trail due to the lack of snow. Originally he thought it was repairable, but on surveying the full extent of the damage he changed his mind. He paid a local guy to go back to McGrath where he had sent him backup sled to, and he is using that one now. (Click here to read the entire post as written by Ken’s wife, and fellow musher, Gwen Holdmann.)

Click here for the latest from the official website of the Iditarod. And, don’t forget to follow the race on Coast Guard District 17′s Twitter page.

Tags: , , , , ,

  • http://www.helpsleddogs.org Margery Glickman

    It’s shameful that the Coast Guard is using taxpayer money to sponsor a musher in the Iditarod. For the dogs, the Iditarod is a bottomless pit of suffering. Six dogs died in the 2009 Iditarod, including two dogs on a doctor’s team who froze to death in the brutally cold winds. What happens to the dogs during the race includes death, paralysis, frostbite (where it hurts the most!), bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia, ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons and sprains. At least 142 dogs have died in the race.

    During training runs, Iditarod dogs have been killed by moose, snowmachines, and various motor vehicles, including a semi tractor and an ATV. They have died from drowning, heart attacks and being strangled in harnesses. Dogs have also been injured while training. They have been gashed, quilled by porcupines, bitten in dog fights, and had broken bones, and torn muscles and tendons. Most dog deaths and injuries during training aren’t even reported.

    On average, 52 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do finish, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who complete the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.

    Iditarod dog kennels are puppy mills. Mushers breed large numbers of dogs and routinely kill unwanted ones, including puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, including those who have outlived their usefulness, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged, drowned or clubbed to death. “Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don’t pull are dragged to death in harnesses……” wrote former Iditarod dog handler Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska’s Bush Blade Newspaper.

    Dog beatings and whippings are common. During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing Manual, “Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective…A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective.” “It is a common training device in use among dog mushers…”

    Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, “He confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens.. Or dragging them to their death.”

    During the race, veterinarians do not give the dogs physical exams at every checkpoint. Mushers speed through many checkpoints, so the dogs get the briefest visual checks, if that. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running. The Iditarod’s chief veterinarian, Stu Nelson, is an employee of the Iditarod Trail Committee. They are the ones who sign his paycheck. So, do you expect that he’s going to say anything negative about the Iditarod?

    Most Iditarod dogs are forced to live at the end of a chain when they aren’t hauling people around. It has been reported that dogs who don’t make the main team are never taken off-chain. Chained dogs have been attacked by wolves, bears and other animals. Old and arthritic dogs suffer terrible pain in the blistering cold.

    The Iditarod, with all the evils associated with it, has become a synonym for exploitation. The race imposes torture no dog should be forced to endure.

    Margery Glickman
    Director
    Sled Dog Action Coalition,

  • clagan

    Ms. Glickman,

    Thank you for your comment. Since receiving it, I have had the opportunity to reach out to the Guardians engaged in the decision to sponsor Ken Anderson and his dog team and to do some research on the race itself.

    The Coast Guard has every reason to believe that the safety and well-being of the dogs participating in the Iditarod is of paramount importance to the race organizers. For instance, all of the dogs entered into the race are checked out by an independent veterinarian to ensure they are in good health prior to embarking on the rigorous course. Additionally, we have received assurances that all entrants receive background checks and that “no one convicted of a charge of animal abuse or neglect, as such is defined under Alaska law, may enter the Iditarod Trail Sled dog Race.”

    Furthermore, in our decision to support Ken, his strong relationship with his dogs was no small part of that process. If you have followed Ken’s blog posts, you would know he has already sent several dogs home who he felt could not complete the race.

    For more information on the stringent safety rules and regulations associated with the Iditarod, please visit the following links:

    Iditarod rules:
    Guidelines for pre-race veterinarian checks:

    Respectfully,
    Christopher Lagan
    United States Coast Guard
    Public Affairs