The animal rights organization PETA has renewed its calls to ban the famous Iditarod sled dog race across Alaska because of the deaths of two dogs. UNN writes about this with reference to Associated Press.
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The Iditarod is the oldest and longest dog sled race in the world. The number of dogs in a sled is up to 16. During the competition, the participants cover a distance of 1609 km between the cities of Anchorage and Nome in subzero temperatures. It takes several days to complete the course.
The harsh conditions of the race have long drawn protests from animal rights organizations, but for the past five years it has been held without incident. However, this year, during the March race, two dogs died during the daytime races and five more died during training. The causes of the dogs' deaths are still under investigation, and conclusions are to be drawn after the autopsy results are available.
However, these unfortunate incidents sparked new controversy around the event and prompted calls for its cancellation by animal rights organizations.
PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O'Brien criticized the event, emphasizing that it causes serious harm to the dogs participating in it.
The number of deaths among dogs forced to run until their bodies break continues to rise
She condemned the race, calling it "disgusting" for putting human glory above the welfare of dogs, and called for the competition to be stopped.
Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach denies PETA's claim, noting that the Iditarod organizers promote responsible attitudes towards the health, nutrition, training and breeding of dogs.
Race participants and Alaskan Natives say the competition is meant to help preserve the breed qualities of the dogs, which have been hardly used in recent years as snowmobiles have replaced them. Alaska Natives have long depended on sled dogs to carry their supplies as they migrated seasonally to where resources were available for fishing or hunting.