Two More Iditarod Dogs Die, Lost Dog Found

March 18, 2009 | Zootoo Pet News Staff

Two more dogs have died along the Iditarod trail in Alaska, local media reported early this week. (AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Two more dogs have died, likely from the harsh, cold weather, along the Iditarod trail in Alaska.

The thin-coated Huskies participating in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race were first reported dead by the Anchorage Daily News on Monday evening, but it is unclear when, exactly, the dogs perished.

They belonged to musher Lou Packer, a doctor from Wasilla, Alaska. Packer, along with the 14 remaining dogs of his canine team, had to be rescued early this week from a desolate stretch of the Innoko River country. He carried the dead dogs' bodies on the helicopter with him.

Another of the dogs is reportedly receiving treatment for hypothermia, but is expected to survive.

Itidarod officials confirmed the dog deaths to the Anchorage Daily News, but not specify the suspected cause of their demise; they said that necropsies were planned to determine how they died.

It was near 45 degrees below Fahrenheit when Packer began to falter in a rugged area; the trail was no longer exposed and the musher struggled to find his way.

Packer stopped to rest overnight, and while the trail was more visible the following morning, two of his dogs began to succumb to the cold winds.

"The sled just kept falling over and he looked really bad, and then he died," Packer said of one of the dogs, Grasshopper. "I sat there and held him. Horrible."

Later that day, Dizzy began to show a lack of resistance, as well.

"I felt his shoulder for hydration, and ice crystals in the skin is what I felt," Packer reportedly said. "I think those two guys probably froze to death in the high winds. I didn't think it possible."

Both of the dogs had been wearing coats and boots, but they apparently did not suffice against the blistering cold.

Two other dogs have fallen during the Iditarod over the past two weeks; a dog named Victor, belonging to musher Jeff Holt, died last Tuesday, also from undetermined causes.

And rookie musher Nancy Yoshida, of Thompson, N.D., was forced to turn back that same day last week after one of her dogs, Nigel, slipped away.

Nigel and Yoshida, who stuck around the area after her team was rescued, were reunited on Friday at the Talvista Lodge near Skwetna, Alaska. Nigel reportedly showed up just in time for breakfast.

Searchers had spotted Nigel from the air and followed his movements for days, as The Star Tribune reported.

Rescuers' consistent tracking of the dog was apparently much appreciated by Yoshida, who was "crying" when she first saw the lost pooch.

"She was so excited," Iditarod spokeswoman Chas St. George said of Yoshida. "You could tell the two of them missed each other a lot.

"Nancy fed him right away out there and he's continued to eat. He's doing fine."

But the 1,100-mile race to Anchorage to Nome must go on -- two-time winner Lance Mackey is now reportedly poised to claim victory for the third consecutive year in the race.

As of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Mackey was just 77 miles from the finish line, as The Associated Press reported.

Two other mushers, Sebastian Schnuelle and John Baker, were reported to be hours behind Mackey, but ahead of the 13 other mushers that remain in the game.

The Associated Press, The Star Tribune, The Anchorage Daily Times and The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.