re Susan
Those following a northern diet primarily of animal and fish protein, e.g.
the Inuit, have the shortest life expectancies if one discounts
childhood diseases, famine, war etc. May Susan in Spirit help end
the brutal Iditarod.
http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm
At least 137 dogs have been killed in brutal Iditarod race
1st dog victim this year in brutal Iditarod race
www.adn.com/iditarod/2008/story/338749.html
A dog on the team of rookie Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher John Stetson died at 1:20 a.m. today. It is the first dog death in this year's race.
Quote:
The 7-year-old male, named Zaster, was dropped at Ophir at 2 a.m. on Friday and had been transported to Anchorage. He was being treated for signs of pneumonia.
Quote:The Iditarod is a dog sled race held every March in Alaska. The 2008 Iditarod will begin on March 1. In this race mushers (dog sled drivers) force their dogs to run 1,150 miles from Anchorage to Nome in 8 to 16 days over a grueling terrain. This is the approximate distance between Los Angeles and Seattle, New York City and Miami, Chicago and Houston. Mushers press their dogs to run at ever increasing speeds, so that the dogs get little rest or sleep. The current speed record is 8 days, 22 hours and 46 minutes,
More race facts less than half the time it took to run the first Iditarod race. No dog wants to run so far and so fast.
Gov. Murkowski said that the dogs rest every night. However, Iditarod rules require only two eight hour rests and one twenty-four rest. The remainder of the time, the dogs may be racing.
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald:
Quote:the Iditarod folks...guard their ''freedom'' to grossly overtax their canine chain-gangs.
Dogs have died of hypothermia, strangulation in towlines, heart failure and pneumonia, and been killed when gouged by sleds and attacked by a moose. Iditarod hero and former champ Rick Swanson lost a dog in '96 after running his team through waist-deep ice water.
The dogs are pulling sleds totaling more than 400 pounds each. To prepare, teams might pull a truck
(A dog who is exhausted but tied to others in a team is dragged
and smashed if he tries to fall out)
(If they were as eager as some say, why are they whipped
when they are too exhausted to move?)
http://www.helpsleddogs.org
For list of corporate sponsors of this brutal race in which
dogs are frozen, smashed, drowned falling into icy ponds,
driven beyond endurance by trophy and money hungry
human beings, see helpsleddogs.org
Dogs are unconditionally loving to those who feed them and are
kind to them. Their unequalled love is exploited.
It is a beautiful thing to see a dog work his heart out for
someone he loves, and a terrible thing to see his work
used for evil goals.
from AdaC
Quote:
After one Poodle was frozen to the ground while a TV crew was filming... it was determined that Poodle paws and their coats, which lack an undercoat for warmth, were not suited for competition in the harsh northern climate.
