Critics Lash Iditarod

[bigdoglover]

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.Com

The Iditarod bills itself as the "last great race on earth" and draws thousands of see-and-be-seen celebrities and corporate promoters to Alaska each March. Critics say there's nothing great about it.

"The Iditarod has a long, well-documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and injuries," said Margery Glickman, director of the Sled Dog Action Coalition, a Miami-based volunteer organization.

In the Iditarod, which this year starts on March 3, dogs run 1,150 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, the approximate distance between Los Angeles and Fort Worth, over a grueling terrain in 8 to 15 days, in pursuit of hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. Dog deaths and injuries are common in the race, Glickman said.

"Iditarod dogs are simply not the invincible animals race officials portray," Glickman said. She said dogs suffer death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, broken bones, pneumonia, torn muscles and tendons, diarrhea, vomiting, hypothermia, fur loss, broken teeth, viral diseases, torn footpads, ruptured discs, sprains, anemia and lung damage in the annual event.

At least 130 dogs have died in the Iditarod, said Glickman, who is not the only critic of the event.

USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno has called the Iditarod "a travesty of grueling proportions" and "Ihurtadog." Fox sportscaster Jim Rome called it "I-killed-a-dog." Orlando Sentinel sports columnist George Diaz said the race is "a barbaric ritual" and "an illegal sweatshop for dogs."

Animal welfare groups are also critical of the race.

The Humane Society of the United States said it "opposes the Iditarod in its current form -- or any other mushing event in which heavy emphasis is placed on competition and entertainment and in which dog deaths and injuries are regular consequences."

"Neither tradition nor fun should be used as an excuse for the continuation of an event that takes the lives of innocent beings," said Jessica Glatzer of the Fund for Animals in a letter to The New York Times a few years ago.

"Almost every year, several dogs die of 'sudden death syndrome,' which means that they are literally run to death," said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "Today?s participants, almost none of whom are indigenous Alaskans, are motivated by only one thing, the cash prize, and they will do almost anything to attain it."

Some critics say that, besides the stress of the cross-country race, some of the Huskies don't fare so well the rest of the year. In 2005, a three-time Iditarod musher was found guilty of animal cruelty after officers in a town near Anchorage found some of his dogs dehydrated and so emaciated that their spines and hip bones showed.

Produced by the not-for-profit Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) and sponsored by a host of mostly Alaska-based businesses, the event is promoted as a commemoration of Alaskan culture and heritage. It has a huge economic impact for Anchorage, site of the ceremonial start, estimated at more than $5 million.

The race is also considered a salute to an approximately 600-mile, non-competitive emergency mushing run -- not a race -- that brought life-saving diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925. This historic run comprised relay teams, most of which traveled less than 100 miles.

So far, 73 mushers have signed up for the 2007 running, including entrants from the United States, Canada, Norway, and Germany.

To drum up interest and raise money, Iditarod organizers hold an annual auction. Winners get to ride on one of the sleds for the first few miles of the Iditarod. Winners have included Gary Collins, Susan Lucci, Joan Rivers, and one-time Miss America Mary Ann Mobley.