Photo and Video: Sick, Injured Dogs, Dying Puppies at Musher Dallas Seavey’s Kennel

PETA Tip Prompts State Police, Local Animal Control to Investigate Sites Reportedly Owned by Former Iditarod Champion

For Immediate Release:
October 31, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

A whistleblower has come forward with photographs and video footage showing injured dogs as well as purportedly dying puppies and on-site burial grounds at a dog kennel reportedly owned by Dallas Seavey, the four-time Iditarod champion who was recently implicated in a dog-doping scandal. PETA forwarded the evidence to state police and local animal control authorities and has learned that officials inspected both of Seavey’s properties over the weekend.

According to the whistleblower, operators at the kennel in Willow allowed severely injured and ailing dogs to suffer, sometimes fatally, without veterinary care, including a litter of seven newborn puppies who died without any veterinary intervention—one of whom who was buried on site—within the past month. Many dogs reportedly suffered from diarrhea and vomiting, puncture and bite wounds, and ripped ears. Handlers allegedly picked up dogs by their throats and threw them to “punish” them for fighting or not obeying commands.

“Dallas Seavey was already under investigation for alleged dog doping, and if reports are true, dogs and puppies at his kennel were left to suffer and die from illness,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Every day brings new revelations of routine cruelty in the sledding industry, and PETA is calling on authorities to investigate each report fully.”

The whistleblower also reported that dogs have been left for weeks in doghouses soaked in rain and snow and that a three-legged dog named Gott—who experienced a spinal clot during the Yukon Quest race and had to have his leg amputated—is perpetually chained and struggles to move around.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—has asked authorities to investigate both the kennel in Willow and an alleged second property in Talkeetna, where some dogs have reportedly been moved to and where there were allegedly six puppies suffering from untreated bloody diarrhea.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.