06 March 2024

Iditarod mushing is way different from other sports

As reported by The Athletic newsletter: 
Dallas Seavey, a record-tying five-time Iditarod winner, told officials with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Monday morning that he was forced to shoot the moose with a handgun out of self-defense, “after the moose became entangled with the dogs and the musher,” a statement from the race said.

Seavey told an Iditarod Insider television crew he then “gutted it the best I could, but it was ugly.”

According to Iditarod Rule 34, if an edible big game animal — like a moose, caribou or buffalo — is killed in defense of life or property, the musher is required to gut the animal and report it to race officials at the next checkpoint. Mushers who follow must help gut the animal when possible and no teams may pass until the animal is gutted and the musher gutting the animal has proceeded. Any other animal killed in defense of life or property must be reported to a race official but is not required to be gutted. 

Race Marshal Warren Palfrey said officials “are making sure that every attempt is made to utilize and salvage the moose meat,” according to the statement.

Seavey encountered the moose 14 miles outside of the Skwentna checkpoint, roughly 80 miles from the starting point in the 975-mile race. When he reached the next checkpoint at Finger Lake, Seavey dropped off his injured dog who was immediately flown to Anchorage and, as of Monday, was being evaluated by veterinarians there.

On Tuesday, Seavey’s X, formerly known as Twitter, account posted an update saying that the injured dog, Faloo, had surgery and is in critical condition. [other news sources say Faloo is recovering]

4 comments:

  1. Why do they gut it? Do they have to pack the usable meat out? Do they have to move the guts far from the race trail? What kind of handgun can stop a moose? Isn't Rule 34 some internet sex thing? Do moose attacks hap[pen often in the race? So many questions.

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  2. Gutting, one, lightens the carcass that you will have to carry, and, two, leaves behind the 'stuff' you will not be eating.

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  3. The digestive tract in a mass of fluids and bacteria that break down(digest) food. When the food stops they begin digesting the animal. The meat will keep awhile, especially in snow (cold), if it's not contaminated by the gut. The officials can send people back for the meat.
    xoxoxoBruce

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  4. He was penalized by race officials for insufficiently gutting the moose -
    "Iditarod Race Marshal Warren Palfrey convened a three-person panel of race officials Wednesday to discuss Seavey’s encounter with the moose. The panel determined Seavey did not sufficiently gut, or remove the intestines and other internal organs of, the moose. It handed Seavey a two-hour time penalty at the 24-hour layover at the Cripple checkpoint."
    Presumably concern for his injured dog took precedence for him at the incident.

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