A dog on scratched musher Alan Peck’s team died while being transported back to Nome. Officials say the dogs were healthy when loaded on the plane, which encountered significant turbulence during the flight.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has requested a criminal investigation into the dog deaths from this year’s Iditarod.

Defending Iditarod champ Lance Mackey is still in the lead. But as he nears the finish line in Nome, Iditarod opponents are criticizing the race as too hard on the dogs.

Mackey with his team

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) opposes the race in its current form. They released a statement that reads in part,

The Iditarod forces the dogs to run too far and too fast in frequently grueling trail and weather conditions, and it exacts a severe, and sometimes fatal, toll on dogs’ physical and psychological systems.

The HSUS also points out that at least one sled dog dies each year during the Iditarod. Three dogs have died thus far during this year’s race.

While the race is billed as commemorating the use of sled dogs to bring lifesaving diptheria serum from Anchorage to the children of Nome in 1925, Iditarod co-founder Dorothy Page says half the run was done by train. The other half, according to Page, was done in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles.

A sled dog chews on a boot at a checkpoint

Supporters counter that given the “extreme marathon” nature of the race, the injury and death rate is very low, and that the sled dogs are working dogs who are happiest when they’re active.

Lance Mackey is now a couple of hours ahead of his nearest pursuer, while one of his less fortunate competitors has lost his team twice.

A musher on the Yukon River

All the details and complete coverage at Anchorage Daily News.

Martin Buser, who’s won the Iditarod four times already, is closing in on another victory. Or so it seems at the moment.

Buser and his team are currently in first place, but he’s still hundreds of miles away from the finish line in Nome.

Buser and his team arriving in Takotna

Many of the mushers behind him stopped at Takotna, a checkpoint 700 miles from Nome, while Buser pressed on. But his lead is not as solid as it might appear.

Mushers are required to rest their teams for 24 hours at some point during the race, which Buser has not yet done. They’re also required to take two 8-hour rests themselves.

So while his competitors stop in Takotna, Buser is breaking a soft trail for them. There is so much snow that Jeff King, another 4-time winner, said he often can’t see his team leaders around curves because the snow banks are too high.

Once the dogs are rested and the trail has firmed up, this could still be anyone’s race. Of the sixty-seven teams that began the race, only two have scratched.

• Vet checks are underway, and on Saturday the race itself begins – if they can find the trail, which is buried under deep snow.
• In the history of the race, just three families have dominated: the Redingtons, the Mackeys and the Seaveys.
• An award-winning lead dog, Babe, will run her final Iditarod.

A team from last year's race

Full coverage of the race, with features and pix galore, at the Anchorage Daily News.