Although the fluff coverage in the Anchorage Daily News promotes the Iditarod as the “last great race,” it is nothing more than a barbaric ritual that gives Alaskan cowboys a license to kill. After a ceremonial start Saturday, 81 teams began a grueling stretch that will last between nine and 14 days. There is no sport in torturing sled dogs through a race that covers 1,151 miles from Anchorage to Nome. Imagine racing your dog from Orlando to New York, depriving him of sleep to complete the course as quickly as possible, mushing though waist-deep water and ice, with the dog losing about 10 pounds through the ordeal. Now in its 28th year, the Iditarod presses on, fueled by dollars, though not much sense. Last year’s purse was $500,000, the largest in race history. No amount of money could justify this torture. Dogs are bred in unsupervised kennels to race, and those who don’t meet the standards are killed, often shot in the head.
