Dog’s death is first in this year’s Iditarod
This year’s Itarod has claimed its first victim – a six-year-old dog in the team of North Pole musher Jeff Holt.
The dog, named Victor, died somewhere between the Rainy Pass and Rohn checkpoints, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Several teams ran into trouble on a steep section of trail in that stretch, the newspaper said, one of whom, Nancy Yoshida, 58, required being rescued after her sled lost both runners.
Other mushers said Yoshida’s sled and team blocked the narrow trail, causing wrecks behind her, but it’s not clear whether Holt’s dog died near that spot.
A necropsy will be conducted by a board-certified pathologist to try to determine why Holt’s dog perished, the Iditarod Trail Committee said in a press release.
Holt, a refinery operator who lives at the North Pole has a best finish of 59th in two previous Iditarods. He runs the Dogs & Dreams kennel.
Two dogs died in last year’s race, and at least three died in 2007 in a race that also saw a musher disqualified from the race for reportedly kicking and beating his dogs. Four dogs died in 2006, and at least three in 2005.
Posted by jwoestendiek March 10th, 2009 under Muttsblog.
Tags: alaska, death, deaths, dies, dog, dogs, iditarod, jeff holt, musher, race, sled dog, victor
