2026 Iditarod Round-Up: A Trail of Death, Disease, and Dogs Pushed Past Their Breaking Point

For Immediate Release:
March 20, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As another Iditarod has come to an end, PETA is breaking down this year’s deadly race—and what comes next for the dogs who survived. PETA’s new white paper also offers peer-reviewed studies and damning evidence of long-distance endurance racing’s harmful impact on dogs’ health.

• Since its inception, the Iditarod’s death toll has continued to climb, with at least 157 dogs now dead and counting. This week, a 4-year-old dog named Charley died on the trail after musher Mille Porsild forced her to run more than 800 miles through grueling conditions.
• Illness swept through the race. Multiple dogs on Jason Mackey’s team developed pneumonia, while expedition musher Thomas Waerner withdrew after several of the dogs he forced to race showed signs of kennel cough. Other mushers openly admitted that viruses were circulating among teams still being pushed down the trail.
• Jeff Deeter continued racing a dog with known neck, shoulder, and rib issues, while another developed a painful skin condition on his scrotum after being forced to run long hours in extreme weather.
• Jessie Royer lost her entire team of dogs three separate times, blaming one incident on a new pair of mittens that she claims made it hard to hold onto the sled and another when she crashed so hard going downhill that it apparently knocked out her contact lens, forcing her to walk “maybe a mile” searching for the dogs. After locating them, she immediately lost them again, before once more forcing them to continue the race.
• Approximately 185 dogs were pulled off this year’s trail due to illness, injury, or exhaustion, including one dog whose toenail apparently broke off while running, causing blood to spray “everywhere”—an injury the musher claims he didn’t even notice at first.
• Jaye Foucher dropped out after describing a punishing trail with 60+ mph winds and blown-down trail markers—conditions so severe they battered the dogs and destroyed equipment.
• Jessie Holmes—who is notorious for his cruel training practices, including forcing a team of struggling dogs through neck-deep floodwater while pulling a heavy metal carriage—was first to be dragged across the finish line after dropping four dogs who had been pushed past their limit.

“This year’s Iditarod left a dog dead and others sick and suffering and destined to be chained up in the bitter cold until they’re forced to run to their breaking point all over again,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging every remaining sponsor of this deadly race to reconsider its ties before another dog pays the price.”

PETA points out that while this year’s race is over, the surviving dogs will continue to suffer from injuries sustained on the trail, and most will live outside, chained to plastic barrels or dilapidated wooden boxes in all weather extremes until they’re forced to race again.

PETA has released new video footage taken by eyewitnesses showing dogs used in this year’s race panicking, shivering, and begging to be brought in from the cold; handlers dragging dogs by the neck and shoving them into tiny boxes for transportation; and even a dog with a wound on his side. PETA is sending the footage to all Iditarod sponsors, urging them to reconsider their future sponsorships of this deadly race.

Major sponsors—including Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Jack Daniel’s, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, and Wells Fargo—have all dropped their support for the race after learning about this cruelty from PETA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.