The Iditarod Dead: Now at 6

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-03-25 13:28:00 UTC
Topics:

A sixth dog has died. She was only two years old. But I've written about the Iditarod more times than I care to count in the last couple weeks, and I just can't bring myself to do it again in great detail. So instead, I'll share with you what someone else wrote about it just this afternoon, before adding some final thoughts of my own.

Says Jeff Mackey,

Six dogs. Dead.

And for what? A belt buckle. A long shot at some money, a pickup truck, and a few endorsement deals. I suppose they think that they're covering themselves in glory, too, but it looks more like blood to me.

Consider this: Two of the dogs may have frozen to death in the punishing weather. Two others died with fluid in their lungs. The most recently reported death apparently happened during a turbulent plane flight after the "musher" gave up. Even the generally Iditarod-supportive Anchorage Daily News called the number of deaths—only five, at the time—"troubling," but that misses the point: Even one dog dead is too many, and it is unacceptable that the dogs who survive are run to exhaustion or injury, only to be stuck back on a chain until the next race.

This brings back the anger and frustration I was feeling a few days ago when I wrote about the Humane Society's refusal to take a principled stand against the race and, rather, near-endorsement of it. As you may recall, an HSUS rep was quoted as saying that HSUS is sure that Iditarod organizers are "trying to make it as safe as they can for both the animals and humans." Yet this is the highest number of (official) Iditarod deaths in more than a decade. Will this year's six dead (and who knows how many injured) change HSUS's approach? We can only hope--and insist.

---
Photo by Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Stop Coke's Sponsorship of Animal Abuse at Rodeos
NEXT STORY:
Super Bowl Countdown: 5 Actions in 5 Days to Protest Skechers' Dog Racing Ad

COMMENTS (5)

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.