By John Di Leonardo
I just returned from Alaska where I led protests of the ongoing 1,128-mile Iditarod dogsled race. During the Iditarod, mushers force dogs to run about 100 miles per day through biting winds, blinding snowstorms, subzero temperatures, and frozen terrain. The dogs often suffer from cut and bruised feet, bleeding stomach ulcers, strained muscles, and other painful injuries.
During last year’s race, Henry, George, and Bog were forced to run hundreds of miles in the freezing cold until their bodies broke down and they collapsed and died on the trail. About 200 dogs were pulled off the trail due to illness, injury, or exhaustion, including Faloo who had to be airlifted to surgery. This year's race is even longer and more brutal than usual as the start was moved from the small town of Willow to the remote city of Fairbanks due to lack of snow, making for even more dangerous conditions. So dangerous that a pregnant dog named Ventana collapsed and died on Friday.
(Photo provided by the author)
More than 150 dogs have died running the Iditarod, with their leading cause of death being aspiration pneumonia—caused by inhaling their own vomit after being forced to run beyond their breaking point. Countless other dogs have died during the off-season. When mushers aren’t forcing them to run, humans neglect, abuse, and chain dogs outside in below-freezing weather, as revealed in PETA’s exposé of champion mushers’ kennels. Mushers aren’t required to report deaths or injuries outside of the race, so it’s impossible to know how much suffering occurs off the record, but it’s not uncommon for dogs to die during training. Before the 2024 Iditarod even began, five dogs were killed, and eight others were injured after being hit by snowmobiles in two separate training incidents in November and December 2023.
According to the daughter of “River Mike” Cranford a former Iditarod dog handler, “[a]t one kennel where he worked, the manager would walk through the yard with his pistol, shooting dogs for fun. Some were killed simply because their paw pads were the ‘wrong colour’. Some were clubbed to death with baseball bats.” “River” Mike’s dying wish was for the Iditarod to finally die itself, and for a long time it’s been poised to.
Contrary to what the Iditarod will tell you, the Iditarod is anything but Alaskan. It has only been around since 1973, and its founder was born in Oklahoma. Today’s race has nothing to do with how the original Iditarod trail was used. It was originally a mail route and was used to deliver an emergency supply of diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska back in 1925. The dog teams were run in a relay, so individual dogs were never forced to run the entire length.The famous Balto who finished the last leg of the race only ever ran 50 miles. Today’s race is nothing but a blood sport, and the human participants are motivated primarily by fame and a cash prize.
(Photo provided by the author)
Telling the tall tale of the Iditarod being an Alaskan custom violates the Jain vow of Satya – or truth-telling; and forcing dogs to run to their deaths for a cash-prize violates the vows of Ahimsa – or nonviolence – and Aparigraha – or non-greed.
While Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, ExxonMobil, and nearly every other major sponsor has cut ties with the Iditarod – causing its cash prize to drop by nearly half a million dollars and resulting in less than half the participants as only a few years ago – Alaskan Brewing Company and Providence Alaska Medical Center are some of the last remaining holdouts still sponsoring the cruel race. For this week’s Anuvrat, I invite readers to make a small vow to help dogs by joining me in urging Alaskan Brewing Company and Providence Alaska Medical Center to cut ties with this death race by visiting PETA.org.
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John Di Leonardo is the founding director of Humane Long Island. He was previously the Senior Manager of Grassroots Campaigns and Animals in Entertainment Campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has a Master's degree in Anthrozoology from Canisius College. He also earned a graduate certificate in Jain Studies from the International School of Jain Studies (ISJS) in India. John can be reached at [email protected].
