Iditarod Musher Dramatically Revives Fallen Dog

[jsmirman]

90. Defenders of the Iditarod - how do you respond

to even some of the claims from the front page of this site: http://www.helpsleddogs.org/default.htm

You extoll the virtues of the race itself, but it is very hard not to be concerned about the breeding practices and the kennel operations - in all my experience with *similar* operations, the conditions for cruelty are rife and very likely to occur.

It's nice that you provide a much rosier picture than what is outlined by stories like this one:

Dog’s beating left me appalled, sick and shocked (Letter to the Editor, Whitehorse Star, February 23, 2011)

"It is around one year ago today as I write this, fewer than two weeks before the legendary 2011 Iditarod race start, that, as a dog handler at a private kennel location in Alaska, I witnessed the extremely violent beating of an Iditarod racing dog by one of the racing industry’s most high-profile top 10 mushers.

Be assured the beating was clearly not within an 'acceptable range' of 'discipline'.

Indeed, the scene left me appalled, sick and shocked.

After viewing an individual sled dog repeatedly booted with full force, the male person doing the beating jumping back and forth like a pendulum with his full body weight to gain full momentum and impact.

He then alternated his beating technique with full-ranging, hard and fast, closed-fist punches like a piston to the dog as it was held by its harness splayed onto the ground.

He then staggeringly lifted the dog by the harness with two arms above waist height, then slammed the dog into the ground with full force, again repeatedly, all of this repeatedly.

The other dogs harnessed into the team were barking loudly and excitedly, jumping and running around frenzied in their harnesses.

The attack was sustained, continuing for several minutes perhaps over four minutes, within view at least, until the all-terrain vehicle I was a passenger on turned a curve on the converging trails, and the scene disappeared from view.

This particular dog was just under 10 days out from commencing racing in the long distance Iditarod race. It was later seen to have survived the attack, although bloodied as a result.

Personally, I have never witnessed such a violent attack on a living creature before. The image of that explosion of anger and physical force of one man on a smaller animal is burnt to my memory."

- Jane Stevens, Australia

How do you respond to this stuff. You're presenting what we are being asked to accept as a wholly sanitized version. Is the truth as clean as you are insisting it is?