Update: The British Columbia SPCA has issued a gut-wrenching report about finding the decomposing bodies of the approximately 100 dogs who were dumped in shallow graves after being stabbed and shot at a failing dog-sledding operation. Read more here.

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A company that operates dogsled tours of Whistler, British Columbia, reportedly killed 100 dogs last year when business slowed after the Vancouver Olympics. The killings came to light after an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler filed a claim for compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder that he says he suffered as a result of being told to shoot dozens of dogs or cut their throats and then dump them in a mass grave. The British Columbia SPCA is investigating and calling for a criminal investigation.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Mushers routinely abandon, shoot, bludgeon, or drown dogs when they become ill, don't run fast enough, or are simply unwanted. In 2005, it was revealed that the largest dogsled tour operation in the U.S., Krabloonik Kennel in Aspen, Colorado, was shooting and killing as many as 35 dogs every year. A Krabloonik employee defended the killings, saying, "This is part of the circle of life for the dog-sled dog."

The deaths of these dogs serve as a tragic reminder never to patronize dogsled tour operations. With the Iditarod coming up, be sure to tell everyone you know about the cruelty inherent in dogsledding.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Just weeks after we told you about the slaughter of 100 dogs by a dogsled tour operator in British Columbia, 14 dogs used to pull sleds near Southend, Saskatchewan, have been killed after one of the dogs, who had been temporarily let off her tether, attacked a 4-year-old boy. The boy was hospitalized, and the dog was subsequently hit by a car and killed. The 13 other dogs were shot by their owner for reasons that remain unclear. 
 

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When they aren't pulling sleds, most dogs used to pull sleds are kept tethered on short ropes or chains or confined to small pens. They are deprived of everything that is natural and important to dogs, such as exercise, mental stimulation, and companionship. Not surprisingly, dogs kept in such conditions often develop psychological problems—knowing they have no means of escape, they become intensely fearful of anyone who approaches, even a small child, and resort to "fighting" (i.e., biting), since flight is not an option.

This tragedy serves as yet another reminder never to patronize any dogsled races or rides, and if you see a company promoting dogsled rides, explain that it will not get your business as long as it promotes cruelty to dogs.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Yesterday—the day after President Obama released his proposed 2012 budget cuts—PETA dashed off a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, pointing out a desperately needed cut to the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) budget: its $100,000 sponsorship of the 2011 Iditarod. Less than 24 hours later, we have received word that the TSA would withdraw its support of this cruel event.

We were scratching our heads over how forcing dogs to slog through more than 1,000 miles of snow and ice in roughly two weeks in any way aided transportation security, but the TSA says the money was part of an effort to recruit airport security screeners … which still has us scratching our heads …

Anyway, after learning from PETA that 20 Iditarod dogs have died since 2005—often from hypothermia, bleeding stomach ulcers, or "sled dog myopathy" (literally being run to death)—the TSA hustled to distance itself from Alaska's annual husky massacre.

A sled dog lot from 2010 Iditarod.  jkbrooks85/cc by2.0

Tail-waggingly good call, TSA. And if you still need help recruiting airport screeners, we're really good at coming up with catchy ad campaigns.   

Written by Alisa Mullins

jerriroberts / CC

When the racers in this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race crossed the finish line last week, the press reported that six dogs had died on the bitter, involuntary trek from Iditarod to Nome. Now we have received a whistleblower report alleging that two more dogs may have died because of the 2009 race.

Here's what we're told: Lou Packer, a 55-year-old musher, struggled to finish the race, and even after two of his dogs died, he continued to push his team until he eventually scratched. It now appears that two more of his dogs may have perished after he was removed from the trail. The whistleblower claims that Packer may have denied his dogs food and left them out in the open throughout the night during a bitterly cold storm, while other mushers took their dogs to the tree line to protect them from the wind. If true, that would have been a death sentence.

Now that the death toll may have reached eight, we have renewed our request to Col. Audie Holloway, Director of the Alaska State Troopers, to launch a vigorous criminal investigation into all the deaths related to this year's Iditarod. Alaskan cruelty-to-animals laws specifically prohibit people from knowingly inflicting "prolonged suffering on an animal." The conditions under which the Iditarod is run are no secret. Anyone with half a brain and one ounce of compassion knows that no dog chooses to struggle to survive for days and nights in the freezing cold while being pushed to or beyond his or her physical limits. Or are Iditarod racers exempt from anti-cruelty laws—or the laws of human decency?

Written by Liz Graffeo

btinternet / CC

When we discussed the first dog to die during the 2009 Iditarod, I mentioned that more were likely to follow. Now, at the end of the race, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that this year's death toll stands at six.

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.

To paraphrase a classic cartoon, we say it's cruelty, and we say the hell with it. PETA has asked the Alaska State Troopers to open a criminal investigation into the deaths of these dogs in the Iditarod. We'll keep you posted on any major developments. In the meantime, even though this year's event has mercifully ended, it's not too late to tell the 2009 Iditarod sponsors to make this the last year that they contribute to dogs' deaths.

Written by Jeff Mackey