Continuing with the Husky type dog breeds is the popular and growing sled adventure tours that Sweden, Norway, Finland and Alaska offer during their winter months.
A couple of my friends have done a sled dog mush and loved the experience. Tours vary from two to eight days; staying in well stocked, heated wooden cabins over-night.
There are some operators entering this growing tourist market with unethical practices, such as chaining the dogs up to old wooden boxes and plastic kennels with meagre food and neglecting injuries during the off-season.
So, if you are interested in one of these adventures, please check with booking agencies that the operators are kind to their dogs and look at their websites.
The better sled dog guides have healthy happy dogs and they encourage tourist interaction with their working dogs and most people really enjoy it.
It has been a bad year for the 2023 Iditarod race in Alaska with 38 teams competing.
It has become hugely popular in the northern hemisphere over the years.
The yearly 1,510 kilometres sled dog race is held in March with 12 to 16 dogs, their mushers race from Anchorage to Nome.
The number of entries was the lowest ever, and there were a lot of protesters present. The large amount of prize money, $250,000 encourages participants to push their dogs so hard many are injured and some die from exhaustion.
PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) have been following closely this race for years, and now their diligence is paying off.
They announced that “the 2023 Iditarod Winner is a Loser,” Ryan Redington, the winner, dragged his exhausted and limping dogs to the podium. PETA paid for video footage of the scene and published it. And that is not all, PETA became a shareholder in Formula one, in order to push its owner, Liberty Media to stop sponsoring the deadly and cruel race.
Other sponsors, including Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, Jack Daniels, Coca cola and Exo Mobil have cut ties with the race.
It is an interesting read at www.peta.org/blog/iditarod-2023-updates.
By Pam Brandis
