People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) calls for Iditarod’s end after three dogs died during this year’s 1,000-mile sled dog race in Alaska — the first canine casualties in five years.
The competition started on March 2. And during the race, mushers and their canine teams went on a grueling race, through blizzards and whiteouts, traversing mountain ranges and the frozen Yukon River and Bering Sea.
During the course of the race, two dogs died on March 10, Sunday and another died on Tuesday.
Iditarod Trail Committee reports that Bog, a 2-year-old male on musher Issac Teaford’s team, collapsed on Sunday morning approximately 200 feet from the Nulato checkpoint.
“Iditarod checkers and one Iditarod Veterinarian approached the team and CPR was administered for 20 minutes, but Bog unfortunately did not survive,” the committee wrote.
The other dog, George, a four-year-old male from musher Hunter Keefe’s team, also collapsed on the trail, roughly 35 miles from Kaltag, while the team was en route to Unalakleet. Iditarod Trail Committee reveals that all attempts to revive the dog were unsuccessful.
Furthermore, the committee said they’ll conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death of both dogs.
According to race rules, mushers must voluntarily quit or be disqualified if a dog dies on the trail unless the cause of death was an “Unpreventable Hazard”.
AP News reports that both mushers, Keefe and Teaford, voluntarily quit the Iditarod race on Sunday after their teams’ canine casualties.
The third dog, Henry, a three-year-old male on musher Calvin Daughterty’s team collapsed on trail roughly 10 miles before reaching the checkpoint at Shaktoolik on Tuesday.
The Iditarod Trail Committee wrote in a statement, “Daugherty administered CPR but unfortunately the attempts to revive Henry were unsuccessful.”
As with the other two dogs, a necropsy will be conducted to to determine Henry’s cause of death.
Daughterty also had to voluntarily quit the 1,000-mile sled dog race after the death of Henry.
Due to these canine casualties, PETA, the animal rights group who has always been a vocal critic of the race, has once again called for the Iditarod’s end.
PETA calls the race a “deadly nightmare for dogs forced to race” and claims that more than 150 dogs have died since the race began in 1973.
After Bog and George’s death, PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien said, “PETA is calling for this despicable race to end before more dogs like Bog pay with their lives.“
“The death count keeps climbing for dogs who are forced to run until their bodies break down, all so the human winner can get a trophy while the dogs get an icy grave,” she continued.
PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman also shared her statement about the recent deaths saying, “Only in the Iditarod can people force dogs to run to their deaths and be caught on video trying to force a collapsed dog to stand and carry on—reprehensible actions that PETA points out would bring cruelty-to-animals charges anywhere else in the country.”
PETA later released another statement following Henry’s death calling The Iditarod “the shame of Alaska”.
She added,” How many more dogs need to die before this stops? Dogs’ lives are worth more than this.”
The 2024 Iditarod is the deadliest in recent years since 2017. During that year, a total of five dogs died. Three of which died on the trail, a fourth dog died after overheating on a cargo flight, and the fifth dog was dropped from the race, escaped his handler’s care, and was hit by a vehicle.