Whistler scandal

[AussieFan01]

I spend a lot of time defending this sport down here in Australia - not much is known here about the sport and most people assume that it is cruel to 'force' dogs to run. So of course my inbox was inundated this morning when this sick event hit the news down here.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/travel/news/huskies-shot-and-stabbed-to-death-after-tourism-slump/story-e6freqwo-1225998438497

It is truely disturbing. Unfortunately it is probably going to have a lasting effect on the sports image abroad which very sad for the sport and the dogs involved.

[mitten]

Anyone else find it strange that this supposedly happened 10 MONTHS AGO yet is just now showing up in the news?

[AussieFan01]

I thought so too mitten. Surely people knew about this earlier. Maybe tried to sweep it under the proverbial rug?

[brightspot]

I read that the worker filed for workman's comp for trauma and PTSD. Some radio station got ahold of the documents and blew the whistle. This article gives a balanced account of the atrocity: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/sled+dogs+slaughtered+Whistler+when+tourism+slumped+Report/4196610/story.html
There was absolutely no excuse for it.

[kayakmatt]

Maybe I'm naive on this point, but the Iditarod racers run on a pretty tight budget, and I get the impression that they don't keep loads of extra dogs...young ones for training, current team and a dozen extra for backups, and some older dogs that are no longer racing.
Am I way off on this? I'll be visiting Alaska this summer and stopping in on a few kennels of Iditarod racers. Am I going to be disappointed?
For some, the fact that there IS a kennel is necessarily immoral. I wonder what they think of all the housepets in small apartments, who sit by themselves all day while their owners work. Or if critics are aware of how many dogs are abandoned and dropped off by highways or small towns...by 'normal' owners. [We lived in Buttonwillow Calif near Bakersfield...and saw at least 5 a year dropped off and abandoned...and those were the ones who made it into our small town.]
I am equally appauled by the term 'culling' (these are living beings...not deformed vegetables (carrots & potatoes). To kill a healthy dog is murder, and it seems that if we want to move forward as a society then pet owners (whether individuals or businesses) must accept full responsibility for the lives in their care.
BUT I think the anger and disgust is inappropriately aimed at the Iditarod community. Please correct me, if you know better.

[saltybird]

I do not think you will be disappointed if you do your homework. Kennels of multiple year champions and Yukon Quest champions should be high on your list to visit, however there are also many other people who have superb kennels also. They would not be where they are without having integrity and providingthe best fortheir dogs.

[1stimestar]

How would we know any sooner? It was the man who did the killing of the dogs comming forward to claim PTSD from it that got the information out. Before that, only those in the company heirachy knew from all I've read. Please be assured that mushers around the world are outraged at this. Not only because of the care, love, and responsibility they have for their dogs and the sport in general, but also, of course, the bad publicity. Here you can read some mushers' responses to this tragedy.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mushers-A ... 010?v=wall

[kayakmatt]

Thanks, 1stimestar, the website was encouraging. There are still pockets of 'old school' thinking (I hope just pockets) who see farm/work animals as little more than working capital...but within my circle of (non-fanatic) acquaintences, a life is a life...dog or human.
To be sure, the relationship one has with a working dog is different than with the house dog who falls asleep at the foot of your bed every night. And it's hard to understand that relationship if you haven't lived on a farm or kennel. [I'm a city guy who spent a summer working on a farm in Wisconsin.]

[1stimestar]

Yes there is a bit of difference between working dogs and pets, but I bet you would be surprised at the amount of mushers whose working dogs ARE pets, sleeping in their beds included. If you take the 1000 dogs that will be brought to the race start and compare them with 1000 pets from Anywhere, USA, in a two week time frame, you would be able to see that the couch potato pets have a higher morbidity rate then the athletes that train all year for this event.

[kayakmatt]

If you take the 1000 dogs that will be brought to the race start and compare them with 1000 pets from Anywhere, USA, in a two week time frame, you would be able to see that the couch potato pets have a higher morbidity rate

Yeah, I don't know why the math escapes everyone on that point. I thought the same thing. Theirs is the same kind of twisted logic that says 'hospitals are dangerous places, because look at all the people who die there.'