Miss Vickie
Well-Known Member
Hi folks,
So as you all know, I live in Alaska, but unlike Sarah Palin, I don't participate in any Alaskan "sports". I don't hunt, fish, ski, snowboard, or dog race, so I'm pretty much considered a "bad Alaskan" by most of my friends.
This is the time of the year that we celebrate Fur Rendezvous, a time when the trappers would bring their pelts to town to sell them and there would be celebrations, parades, the Miners and Trappers Ball, and all kinds of crazy Alaskan celebrations. We still celebrate it, and though there's less pelt selling, there's still a lot of activities going on, all of which I ignore.
But last weekend was also the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog race, an 1150 sled dog race over some really intense terrain. It's a commemoration of bringing diptheria serum to Nome during an epidemic and the dog teams that raced to save the village.
Mushers come from all over the world (!) to participate in the race and supporters say that the dogs love it. However the pace is brutal, sometimes there are deaths, and lately there's been an outbreak of kennel cough and the dogs are still running. PETA and other animal rights groups speak out against the race as animal cruelty.
I don't really feel strongly about it one way or another. Alaskans have an interesting relationship with animals, one I often disagree with. Unattended, stray animals in villages are either left to fend for themselves or are put to death by being SHOT by village safety officers, not euthanized humanely as would be done in most places.
But I'm curious about how non-Alaskans see dog mushing. Do you think it's cruel, akin to dog fighting? Or is it just good clean fun?
So as you all know, I live in Alaska, but unlike Sarah Palin, I don't participate in any Alaskan "sports". I don't hunt, fish, ski, snowboard, or dog race, so I'm pretty much considered a "bad Alaskan" by most of my friends.
This is the time of the year that we celebrate Fur Rendezvous, a time when the trappers would bring their pelts to town to sell them and there would be celebrations, parades, the Miners and Trappers Ball, and all kinds of crazy Alaskan celebrations. We still celebrate it, and though there's less pelt selling, there's still a lot of activities going on, all of which I ignore.
But last weekend was also the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog race, an 1150 sled dog race over some really intense terrain. It's a commemoration of bringing diptheria serum to Nome during an epidemic and the dog teams that raced to save the village.
Mushers come from all over the world (!) to participate in the race and supporters say that the dogs love it. However the pace is brutal, sometimes there are deaths, and lately there's been an outbreak of kennel cough and the dogs are still running. PETA and other animal rights groups speak out against the race as animal cruelty.
I don't really feel strongly about it one way or another. Alaskans have an interesting relationship with animals, one I often disagree with. Unattended, stray animals in villages are either left to fend for themselves or are put to death by being SHOT by village safety officers, not euthanized humanely as would be done in most places.
But I'm curious about how non-Alaskans see dog mushing. Do you think it's cruel, akin to dog fighting? Or is it just good clean fun?
