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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: June 2007

Iditarod racer suspended for beating dog; no penalties for overbreeders

 

ANCHORAGE--The Iditarod Trail Committee on May 18, 2007 unanimously voted to suspend two-time Iditarod dog sled race runner-up Ramy Brooks for two years for admittedly striking his dogs with a quarter-inch wide wooden trail marker when the team balked on glare ice just north of Golovin, less than 100 miles from the finish in Nome.

Brooks, 38, also admitted yelling at the dogs and using foul language. Brooks will next be allowed to enter the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail race in 2010.

The Iditarod Trail Committee acted after hiring an investigator from the Anchorage law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP to interview witnesses--three adults and two children--who variously reported that Brooks had kicked his dogs, hit them with his fists, or struck them with a ski pole. Brooks denied those claims. Brooks told the investigator that "he felt that he was in control throughout the entire situation," and "did not perceive at that point in time that anything that he did whether intentional or otherwise ended up hurting his dogs," according to Associated Press.

One of Brooks' dogs, a three-year-old husky named Kate, died about 80 miles after the beating, 22 miles from the finish. A necropsy failed to find a cause of death.

As the Brooks episode played out, the Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Shelter and the volunteer Second Chance League struggled to cope with what they call "the spring husky dump."

Explained Associated Press, "Every spring, after the major races are finished, mushers, mostly those who were not as successful as they would have liked, clean out their dog lots. Dozens of sled dogs are brought in during the months of April and May."

Most, volunteer Carol Kleckner testified, are "perfectly capable working sled dogs." Kleckner, a 12-year competitive musher herself, tests each surrendered husky in harness. The four-year-old Second Chance League then e-mails her evaluations to other mushers around the U.S., in hopes of arranging adoptions. Of about 1,000 sled dogs per year who arrive at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Shelter, Associated Press reported, barely a third find homes.

Fairbanks sprint racer Amanda Byrd has built competitive teams from among the surrendered dogs, Associated Press said, using two shelter dogs as her leaders.

The problem, Byrd assessed, is that too many racers try to breed their way to success instead of spending adequate time training with the dogs. Huskies will typically run long distances with great enthusiasm, but are notoriously independent. The most successful mushers tend to be those who are best at matching dogs to create a team who work well together. A competitive team typically consists of 16 to 18 dogs plus half a dozen alternates who can fill in as needed, including in the critical positions of leader and "wheel dog," who controls turns.

"We have a surplus of dogs here, but mushing is really growing in a lot of parts of the United States where they can't get huskies," claimed Second Chance League president Don Kiely. "They might have to pay upwards of $1,000 for a trained husky."

The major obstacle to placing more huskies in the Lower 48, Associated Press indicated, is the difficulty and expense of flying them south.