UPDATE: Missing Dog Found After Escape From Deadly Iditarod
Update (June 6, 2022): Leon, the dog who was used by rookie musher SĂ©bastien Dos Santos Borges and who went missing during the 2022 Iditarod, has been found.
Itâs a miracle that Leon was found alive after escaping from an Iditarod checkpoint nearly three months agoâa wise move, given the abuse these dogs endure.
While Leon survived, more than 150 dogs have died in this cruel and perilous race, and hundreds are pulled from it every year because their bodies canât take the strain anymoreâso PETA is calling for an end to the Iditarod and urging Dos Santos Borges not to endanger Leon or any other dogs by forcing them onto icy trails again.
âPETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman
Update (April 12, 2022): PETA has a running listâone seemingly longer than the Iditarodâs death trailâof reasons why the cruel race is dangerous for dogs and others and why it must end. Hereâs one that we never imagined needing to add: On March 25, 2022, Iditarod musher and Life Below Zero personality Jessie Holmes reportedly turned several dogs loose in a hotel parking lot in Wasilla, Alaska, near a residential area. Weâre not surprised that an Iditarod participant who forces dogs to take part in a race in which more than 150 dogs have been killed failed to safeguard his dogs off the trail, too. But for Lucky the dogâs unsuspecting guardian, the tragedy that unfolded was a shock: Holmes reportedly â[stood] at the top of [a] hill watchingâ while the dogs he let loose invaded a womanâs front yard and killed Lucky, her 15-pound companion dog.
Liza Tulio McCafferty, Luckyâs guardian, took to Facebook to describe the tragic incident and the aftermath, saying, âIt wasnât until I started screaming for help and telling [Holmes] to retrieve his dogs, did he come down to get his dogs.â Video footage has reportedly confirmed her account of the incident. According to her, once Holmes was finally able to âget control of his dogs,â he placed Luckyâs body on her front porch. âLucky was unresponsive and his intestines were hanging out. His neck was gouged and was bloodied from the attack; he was dead,â McCafferty said on Facebook. Local authorities will reportedly âbe issuing multiple citations with the most serious being for Animal Cruelty,â she said. â[C]itations are expected to be issued,â Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford said in a statement.
Authorities reportedly have been unable to reach Holmes, who apparently has since gone on to force dogs to run again in the Kobuk 440 sled raceâa move that seemingly demonstrates that he either doesnât understand or doesnât care that his actions as a musher can have deadly consequences.
âThis tragedy was avoidable,â said McCafferty. PETA agrees.
Animal suffering is the name of the game for the Iditarod, and what dogs endure off the trail is no exception. PETA and concerned people all over the country are calling for this rotten race to end. For Lucky and all the dogs who should never be forced to race, please, join us in taking action:
Update (March 29, 2022): Only one human wins the Iditarod each year, but every dog forced to race loses their chance at a happy and healthy life free of exploitation. Thatâs whyâas more and more people reject the idea of a canine death raceâPETA has a job offer for this yearâs Iditarod losers: Let us help pay for the cost of training and equipment for you to embark on a new career, such as snowplow operator, ski instructor, or park ranger.
PETA will help mushers kiss the Iditarod goodbye and move on to a job that no one will despise them for doing.
Update (March 25, 2022): According to shocking reports, three mushers who participated in the 2022 Iditarod were penalized for sheltering dogs indoors while a dangerous windstorm raged outside. You read that rightâper official Iditarod rules, mushers are actively discouraged from saving dogsâ lives and instead encouraged to let them suffer or die if they want to place high and earn more prize money. Cruelty is deliberately built into the structure of this death raceâs rulebook, and compassionate people everywhere must call for this dangerous and deadly spectacle to end.
More than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began. In just this yearâs event, two dogs went missing, a musher was apparently forced out of the race after the dogs he used were found in poor condition, and nearly 250 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, or injury. Before the race even started, dogs were attacked and one was killed during training.
Update (March 20, 2022):
The last team of exhausted dogs forced to race in the 2022 Iditarod crossed the finish line, marking the official end to this yearâs cruel event.
Musher Brent Sass finished first in this yearâs race, but there are no real winners in the Iditarod. Dogs forced to run in the event face potential illness, injuries, and even deathâand this yearâs race was no exception. Here is a recap of just a few of the worst incidents that occurred during the 2022 Iditarod:
- Photos from the starting line show dogs chained up in the freezing cold and mushers dragging dogs and heaving them into tiny crates
- Nearly 250 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, forcing the remaining ones to work even harder to pull the mushers.
- Iditarod âwinnerâ Brent Sassâwhose dogs have died in other races and who chains his dogs to wooden boxes and plastic barrels in the frigid coldâleft behind three dogs who could go no farther. He also shared a disturbing video during the race of dogs covered in snow and ice in the blistering wind with, as he described, their faces âtotally entrenched in snowâ and their eyes âall frozen shut.â In a previous race, he pushed dogs so far beyond their breaking point that he had to call for a rescue.
âIâve got 11 dogs who are literally bunkered down in the snowdrifts. Like, their faces are totally entrenched in snow. Iâm, like, cleaning their muzzles off, because the snow and ice are just ⊠starting to build up everywhere. Their eyes are all frozen shut.â
â 2022 Iditarod âwinnerâ Brent Sass
- Musher Hugh Neff reportedly had to quit after the dogs he was forcing to raceâwho were described as âskinnyâ and were apparently suffering from diarrheaâwere found in such poor condition that they couldnât continue. Neff was banned from the 2019 race after one of his dogs died during the Yukon Quest.
- Notorious musher Dallas Seaveyâwho has raced dogs who have tested positive for opioids, operates a kennel accused of killing dogs who didnât make the grade, and owns property where a whistleblower reported finding dying puppiesâadmitted that during the first half of the race, the dogs he was forcing to run were suffering from diarrhea and that several dogs had been pulled off the trail because of injuries.
- A dog named Jimbo was left behind by musher Richie Diehl and subsequently escaped the Iditarodâs âdropped dogâ area in Anchorage. He was on the loose for more than a day.
- Leon, a dog used by rookie musher SĂ©bastien Dos Santos Borges, went missing at the Ruby checkpoint during the Iditarodâand was missing for months before being found.
- Before the race even began, four dogs were severely injured by a moose while being forced to train by rookie musher Bridgett Watkins, and the month before, a team of dogs run by musher Jaye Foucher was hit by a truck, killing one of them, injuring others, and causing another dog to go missing.
The days are numbered for crude, outdated entertainment like the Iditarod.
Even though the race has concluded, PETAâs work is far from over. The nearly 250 exhausted, sick, and injured dogs pulled off the trail this year are that many more reasons why the Iditarod must end. Join us in calling for this reckless, cruel race to be the lastâurge Liberty Media/GCIÂ to sever its ties with the death race:
Keep scrolling for full coverage of the events described above and to learn how else you can speak up for dogs forced to race:
Update (March 15, 2022): This morning, Brent Sass âwonâ the 2022 Iditarod. But Sass, whose dogs have died in other races and who keeps his dogs chained to wooden boxes and plastic barrels in the bitter cold, has only scored the cruelty crown, nothing more. This top dog abuser left behind three dogs who could no longer carry on, meaning the remaining ones had to work even harder to pull him. This is par for the course for Sass, who pushed dogs so far beyond their breaking point during a previous dog-sledding race that he had to call for rescue.
Update (March 14, 2022): Weâre more than seven days into the 2022 Iditarod, and more than 180 dogs have been dropped from the race. Dogsâ misery is still taking center stage. On Friday, musher Hugh Neff was reportedly made to quit the event after the dogs he was forcing to race, who were described as âskinnyâ and were apparently suffering from diarrhea, were found in such poor condition that they couldnât continue, according to Alaska Public Media. âI just wanted to get to Nome,â he said afterward. Neff is the same notorious musher who was banned from the 2019 Iditarod after he forced a dog to pull a sled until his body broke down and he inhaled his own vomit during the Yukon Quest, a similarly cruel event. The full necropsy report also showed that the dog had died after enduring more than six hours of seizures.
Also over the weekend, Dallas Seaveyâwhose record of cruel animal treatment is as long as the Iditarod trailâadmitted that during the first half of the race, the dogs he was forcing to run were suffering from diarrhea, too, and that several dogs had been pulled off the trail because of injuries.
Another musher, Matthew Failor, reportedly shot and killed a moose he encountered on the trailâa killing that surely never would have occurred had it not been for the Iditarod.
And a fourth musher, Paige Drobny, apparently nodded off while dogs kept pulling her and her sled through the race. â[I]tâs hard to stay awake,â she said.
âMy feet got a little bit cold. It wasnât that much fun,â said Drobny. Try being the dogs.
Most recently, Millennium Hotels and Resorts and computer software company Nutanix both dropped their support of the death race after hearing from PETA. Weâre urging Liberty Media/GCI to back away from this spectacle of suffering, too. Will you join us?
Update (March 11, 2022):After being on the loose for more than a day, likely scared and all alone, Jimbo (below) has been found. PETA hopes Jimboâs escape is a wake-up call to all Iditarod mushers and we urge them to get out of the cruel industry before more dogs suffer.
Update (March 11, 2022): A dog named Jimbo reportedly escaped the Iditarodâs âdropped dogâ area in Anchorage, Alaska, yesterday morning and has been missing ever since. Jimbo, who was apparently suffering from a cough, was dropped by Richie Diehl, the same musher who admitted that he dropped out of the 2020 Iditarod because five dogs had coughs and were showing signs of the beginning stages of pneumonia.
Jimbo should have been curled up on a loving guardianâs warm couch, not forced to run hundreds of miles through biting winds and ditched like a flat tire when he became âuselessâ to Diehl.
And this isnât the first time a dog forced to race in the Iditarod has gone missing in Anchorage, according to the Anchorage Daily News:
[O]ne of Norwegian musher Lars Monsenâs dogs escaped before the ceremonial start in 2018 and was found hours later, and a dog that belonged to Lachlan Clarke was killed by a car after getting loose in 2015.
Jimbo is one of more than 100 dogs who have already been pulled from this yearâs race. Yet even though these dogs were taken off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causesâleaving the remaining ones to work even harderâsome media outlets still attempt to portray mushers as being the ones who are burdened by âVERY roughâ trail conditions and who are âexhausted.â One musher reported forcing dogs pulling his sled to ârun through some of the most hellacious moguls [heâd] seen, in a lifetime.â Another admitted to bumping into trees, realizing at one point that his âlead dogâ was no longer attachedâthe animal was missing. This yearâs Iditarod and every race before it have demonstrated the same truth: Abusing dogsânot athleticismâis the key to winning.
Jimboâs dangerous escape from the Iditarodâs âdropped dogâ area is yet another reason why PETA is calling on the raceâs remaining sponsors to see the writing on the wall and pull their support, much as Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Nutanix, and so many others have done. And you can help:
- Never take dog-sled rides or buy excursions that include visits to dog kennels.
- Remind your family, friends, and social media followers to act in dogsâ best interests, tooâshare this blog post on Facebook and Twitter.
- Click below to join PETA in urging Liberty Media/GCI and others to stop sponsoring cruelty to dogs.
Update (March 8, 2022): More than 30 dogs have already been pulled from the Iditarod during just the first few days of this yearâs race. In related news, after hearing from PETA, computer software company Nutanix quickly confirmed that its new sponsorship of the death race will end. It did the right thing by shutting down its support of the cruel spectacle, and weâre calling on the remaining sponsorsâwhich, like Nutanix, may be unaware of the suffering and deaths dogs endureâto join them.
Update (March 6, 2022): The 2022 Iditarodâa race that treats dogs like tow trucks or old bicycles chained up in the bitter coldâis one day in, and PETA is still on-site ensuring that any dogs who collapse and die on the trail arenât forgotten. On Sunday, our supporters gathered at the Iditarodâs restart in Willow with giant logos spoofing the 50th anniversary of the race.
Meanwhile, PETA ads juxtaposing clips of happy canine companions with footage of lonely, shivering dogs at Iditarod mushersâ dog-sledding operations are running dozens of times on local television stations through March 16.
Join us in ensuring that the 2022 Iditarod is the last.
Update (March 5, 2022): At the Iditarodâs ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, PETA âpallbearersâ carried a dog sled piled with âbloody dogâ props in a funeral-style procession. They alerted spectators that more than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod to date and that the most common cause of death is aspiration pneumonia (caused by inhaling their own vomit).
Many more dogs have been killed during the off-season because they werenât fast or fit enough to win money for the mushers who owned them. Click to urge Liberty Media/GCIÂ to quit dragging its feet and cut its ties with this cruelty now.
Update (March 3, 2022): As the Iditarod marks 50 years of running dogs to their deathsâmore than 150 so farâPETA supporters are in Anchorage protesting against Liberty Mediaâs company GCI, one of the raceâs few remaining sponsors. Realistic-looking âdogsâ tied to a stake showed the way mushers âstoreâ living, breathing, feeling dogs, as revealed in PETAâs exposĂ© of Iditarod mushersâ kennel facilities.
Demonstrators called on GCI to âdisconnect from the cruel Iditarodâ as many former sponsors have doneâincluding ExxonMobil (which used to contribute $250,000 a year) and Millennium Hotels and Resorts (the raceâs longtime host).
Update (February 11, 2022): Following a worldwide PETA campaign, Millennium Hotels and Resorts has confirmed that its nearly 30 years of support for the Iditarod, the notorious dog-sled race in which more than 150 dogs have died, is ending this year.
The decision follows appeals from nearly 500,000 PETA supporters and a campaign including ads on buses in Anchorage, Alaska, âMillhelliumâ ads in hospitality magazines, a billboard near Millenniumâs Times Square hotel in New York City, and dozens of protests around the world, from Alaska to Paris to New Zealand. Only a few major corporate sponsors, such as Liberty Media subsidiary GCI, remainâand PETA recently bought stock in Liberty Broadband to push it to drop its sponsorship. Join us in upping the ante against Liberty Media:
Update (February 4, 2022):Â Itâs not only the 1,000-mile Iditarod race that endangers dogs: Training sessions can also result in catastrophe and agony. It was reported that four dogsâBill, Bronze, Flash, and Jefeâwere severely injured by a moose while being forced to run by first-time Iditarod musher Bridgett Watkins. The dogs reportedly needed emergency surgery and are expected to recover, but hopefully this incident makes Watkins realize that no prize is worth a dogâs life.
Originally published on January 20, 2022:
The 2022 Iditarod death race is still more than a month away, but already at least one dog has been killed. On January 19, a team of dogs forced to race by Jaye Foucherâa musher registered for next weekâs Willow 300 and this yearâs Iditarodâwas hit by a truck, killing one of them (Noddy) and injuring others. One dog, Felicity, is reportedly still missing.
The Willow 300 is a qualifying race for the Iditarod.
Foucher may now understand what PETA has been saying for years: The dog-sledding industry is rife with dangers for dogs, from being hit by vehicles to asphyxiation, heart attacks, and freezing to death.
Up to half the dogs who start the Iditarod donât finish it, and during the 2021 race alone, nearly 200 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes. The leading cause of death for dogs made to race in the Iditarod is aspiration pneumoniaâcaused by inhaling their own vomit. Many more die during the off-season while chained up outside in subzero temperatures or are killed because they arenât considered fast enough. Thanks to a PETA investigator, the world was given a glimpse of what itâs like for some of these dogs, including Snickersâshe was kept chained near the icy sea, limping, crying, and left to pace in circles all day.
No prize is worth a dogâs life, and weâre urging Foucher to do whatâs right and best for dogs by dropping out of the Willow 300, the Iditarod, and racing altogether. And for Birch, Snickers, and countless other victims of the Iditarod, PETA will continue to protest the eventâs crueltyâexpect to see activists at the start of the Iditarod on March 5 in Anchorage, Alaska. Weâll be monitoring this yearâs death race, so check backâthis story will be updated as the 2022 Iditarod ensues.
Sponsor by sponsor, PETAâs been taking down the Iditarod. Learn how you can join us in speaking out for dogs.
Injured dogs, missing dogs, dead dogsâitâs no wonder that so many major companies, including ExxonMobil, Chrysler, Alaska Airlines, Coca-Cola, Jack Danielâs, State Farm, and Wells Fargo, have listened to PETA and dropped their sponsorships. So tell Liberty Media/GCI to quit dragging its feet and cut its ties now:
If youâre planning a trip or cruise to Alaska, please donât buy any packages or excursions that include dog-sled rides or visits to dog kennels. Ask your friends and family not to, either:
Learn more about the abuse of dogs in the Iditarod: Watch the documentary Sled Dogsâwhich shines a spotlight on the dogs who are forced to run until their bodies break down or who are killed if they donât measure upâavailable now on Prime Video and Plex.
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