Yukon Quest dog dies on the trail
A sled dog racing in the Yukon Quest has died.
DAWSON CITY – A sled dog racing in the Yukon Quest has died.
Firefly, a six-year-old member of Yuka Honda’s team, expired as the team was running into Dawson early this morning.
At 3:59 a.m. today, Honda told a race marshal a dog on her team had died, the Quest said in a press release.
Preliminary results from a necropsy show the dog had an enlarged heart and had eaten several booties, said head veterinarian Nina Hansen.
Full results from the necropsy are expected to be released in three weeks.
The Quest race tracker showed that Honda was resting a lot on her run into Dawson. She was camped just past Scroggie Creek for about 12 hours, ran for less than an hour, then rested for about three hours.
She climbed King Solomon’s Dome with rookie musher Ben Good, who arrived at the Dawson City checkpoint shortly before Honda.
It’s not clear whether Honda will continue the race to Fairbanks.
Ten years ago, Honda lost another dog on the Yukon Quest.
In 2007, Jewel, a five-year-old female on her team, died just outside the Braeburn checkpoint.
Honda had left the checkpoint at 6:45 a.m. when her leaders became tangled with the swing dogs behind them.
She placed her snow hooks in the ground and as she was untangling the team, the hooks popped out and she was knocked into the snow, watching as the team and sled flew past her.
When she and Brent Sass, who gave her a ride down the trail, arrived at the team, they realized Jewel had died.
A necropsy revealed that she had died from choking on her own vomit.
Comments (12)
Up 6 Down 4
Dj on Feb 15, 2017 at 12:27 pm
@dog musher
You can't feed them large meals or even moderate meals during the day because then they have a chance of getting a twisted stomach and dying. I know a fair amount about dogs (not a self proclaimed expert) I don't race or mush dogs...but I know someone who has, they don't anymore and they said a lot of things that go on during the races aren't great for the dogs (even though all the mushers love the dogs and may even cry when one dies). Mushing as a serious sport is cruel. It is like any other sport...it's fine until money and titles set on the line then people ALWAYS push the lines to get an extra edge... it is like PED use in sports. We all know it is happening...just every now and again someone gets caught. Dog sports...some mushers push the limits and the dogs pay the price either in overall health or the extreme they die. Is every musher doing it? Probably not...but I guarantee some to a fair number of dogs are not looked after the way they should imo. It is common sense. If it was for charity or something like I said shorter length races...that would diminish to next to nil more than likely.
It is pretty pointless nowadays for anything other than bragging rights and tradition....and I don't think tradition should ever be celebrated or continued when it is cruel to animals.
We agree on some, not on others.
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dog musher on Feb 14, 2017 at 4:22 pm
DJ - "You can't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about." Actually I can tell you that you don't know what you are talking about when it comes to the 'dogs run better when they are hungry'.
I don't know who you handled for but on these races one of the biggest things you want to see is that your dogs are eating and eating well. You are snacking them every hour or two as they go down the trail, and feeding them a big meal every time you stop for a long break. I have heard one person say, 'Keep 'em hungry!', but that is not the norm. 'I fed them a big meal and they ate everything.' 'they are eating all their snacks' - is more what people want to be able to say.
That said, I agree completely with your last lines that we can come up with some better way to celebrate sled dogs in the Yukon, then what the Yukon Quest has become. The lack of rest that the dogs at the front were getting this year (and last year), was unfair and cruel, and was resulting in ridiculously slow speeds on the trail that told the story of what was going on: exhausted dogs. It was not due to deep snow or a blizzard.
It was disturbing and I stopped watching and following. Could not be excited for the new 'champion' or a few of the others at the front, and it was pathetic to see people cheer for people running their dogs into the ground.
There were however other teams out there doing a good job of resting their dogs and keeping their speeds up. Not the very front pack though, the 'champions' and 'winners' and 'fan favourites'.
I agree with you that changes should be made. It's not right.
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Dj on Feb 14, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Obviously how the dogs are treated depends on the musher. Yes I am sure most mushers love their dogs. But that doesn't mean a thing. People who beat their dogs still love them, the same as people who abuse their kids still love them...they just are terrible owners and or parents.
I have no idea if this musher loves his dogs or not...and I have no idea whether this musher abuses his dogs or not.
I do know that dogs love having something to drive them and to have jobs. Whether the reward is good or a bad whatever. But, to be fair this isn't a dog getting it's blind owner across the street safely, doing a 10k race, or a collapsed building for survivors. These dogs are run to exhaustion everyday, yes they are fed but does a full dog run better or a hungry dog run better? Answer if their reward is food they work better when they are hungry. You cannot tell me I am wrong there, if you do, you either know nothing about dogs, or are naive. But the main issue for me is what is the point of all this? If your answer is heritage...or tradition...sorry that doesn't cut any dice with me.
I think we can come up with a race that respects the tradition of what sledding is and has meant to the Yukon, and not kill dogs and run them to near death everyday for sport. It is stupid.
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Fed up Yukoner on Feb 13, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Just wondering if anyone knew what happened to huskies back in the day in the summer before dog mushing became popular. Do you think they ran around the yards and played with the kids? Happily traveled with the first nations following the food animals? Lots of dogs were put on islands left to their own devices for the summer, better than tied up in a yard. These dogs had to carry heavy packs and pull huge loads and were definitely not well treated. There was no birth control, dogs that couldn't work hard enough were eaten. So when you criticize dog athletes I would think their lives are far better than their fore bearers. Let's not turn another breed into schizophrenic lap dogs, these dogs at least have a purpose in life, entirely my opinion.
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Dave on Feb 12, 2017 at 8:57 am
Meanwhile on that same day all across the Yukon, numerous other dogs and animals of all kinds probably died as well. However because this death was associated with the dog race everyone jumps all over it to pass judgement.
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Dog sledding in Yukon is senseless Pasterbation. on Feb 11, 2017 at 7:59 pm
It's no wonder nobody wanted to have their name attached to this story. Whether you have lived in the Yukon all your life, or are new to the territory, it is evident to me that you are not allowed to have a negative opinion on dog sledding. I have personally worked with sled dogs in the past as a dog handler many years ago and only after doing so did my opinion change. I worked in a kennel where the dogs are treated "exceptionally well" They were brushed and run during the day and had some personal time with the attendants. On the other hand they spent most of the day tied up to a chain or running back and forth in a tiny kennel. In fact, if you drive to any kennel on any given day I can almost guarantee you would be greeted by a bunch of dogs barking at you from their kennels or chains. They are almost always tied up. Often times they would fight on their lines. Sometimes they had to pull big fatties (people). Once they were too old to run they served no purpose to the owner and they were either adopted out or destroyed. I believe this is more common than people let on. I have never met a reasonable person to discuss this topic with that was in favor of running dogs. It's always "you're ignorant" "this is the way it is in the Yukon" "dogs love to work" "look at the smile on it's face" etc..In my opinion dog sled teams serve no purpose in society anymore except to feed the egos of the people who choose to partake in these "quests" and for monetary gain. You want to test what you are made of? Try the Ultra...
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jc on Feb 10, 2017 at 5:22 pm
But died happy! And probably glad he didn't have to poop out those booties.
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Karin on Feb 10, 2017 at 3:03 pm
If human beings want to pursue a sports passion, fine. Leave the animals out of it. They are innocent victims of human ego fueled events like this.
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Politico on Feb 10, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Nice to know there is at least one trumpeter in town Jay
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Michael Gray on Feb 9, 2017 at 9:22 pm
Jay your avoiding this site and the issues at hand will ensure that the dumb subsides.
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moe on Feb 9, 2017 at 4:13 pm
Story written by 'Whitehorse Star'? Nobody wants to take credit for writing this. Interesting. I wonder who sent it in and wanted to stay anonymous.
Reaching back 10 years to dredge up another tragedy where a dog choked to death, I'm not sure that was necessary but the person who wrote this must have had a desire to kick a person when they were down. That's all I can read into it, especially given that they don't want their name on the article.
That said, I am quite sad that this happened and have questions about how a dog could eat 'several' booties. Some are really bad for eating foreign objects, with a special love of booties. There are a lot of booties thrown off the dogs' feet on the trail. It's a problem and when I am out there I do my best to snatch up any booties I see on the trail.
Sorry to hear this.
Up 56 Down 18
JayDangles on Feb 9, 2017 at 3:16 pm
In before the usual animal bleeding hearts start in on this.
Oh lord.... First the deer... now a dog... Way to tee it up Star! Starbucks better order in some extra soy latte's and upgrade their wifi because there's going to be a ton of coffee shop keyboard hero's jumping on this one.. I think I'll avoid this website for a while until the dumb subsides.