https://www.scpr.org/news/2018/03/03/81305/scandals-hit-the-super-bowl-of-sled-dog-races/
There was a guy with a bear skin on ... wearing the head like a hat with the rest of the skin trailing down his back .... handing out fliers for a fur sale right in front of the PETA protestors. The general comment from the Alaskans who saw that picture was “buy that guy a beer!”.
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Iditarod explodes (dtd 3-6-18)
This is a developing story
Charges of blackmail, an Alaska media cover-up and previously unreported doping ripped into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday via social media and the partner of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club.
Sophie DeBruin, partner of musher Wade Marrs, posted accusations on the Stump Jumpin’ Kennel Facebook page that Alaska reporters were covering-up information about one or more of Marrs’ dogs testing positive for drugs, and that Morrie Craig, the consultant in charge of Iditarod drug testing, had tried to use this secret information to blackmail the musher.
None of the information could be confirmed as of this writing, but it is all out there publicly on social media and a firestorm has started within the mushing community.
Meanwhile, concern was spreading among other mushers that if the problem is meat it could affect many because many, many “mushers get their meat same place Wade does.”
More at link.
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Another article with info (Iditarod related shows up about 2/3 of way down):
Maximum power-to-weight ratio is a key to race performance whether for cars, people, or dogs. But the drug that showed up in the team of Iditarod runner-up Dallas Seavey last year was not a steroid, but the pain-killer tramadol.
The 30-year-old Seavey, already a four-time champ, has denied giving his dogs the drug and said he believes he was the victim of sabotage in the Nome dog lot between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on the night he finished the race.
He has since accused the Iditarod Trail Committee of trying to ruin his reputation. Wiggins [Team Sky cycling] voiced similar sentiments.
“This is malicious, this is someone trying to smear me,” he told the BBC.
What drugs?
What steroids have been detected in Iditarod dogs over the years is unclear. Race chief veterinarian Stuart Nelson in a pre-race interview said it is rare for drug testers to detect drugs, but a later handout to mushers said “it is not unusual to detect traces of ‘large animal’ (beef, horse, etc.) medications in urine drug testing.
“Every year we see 30-35 teams with trace amounts.”
The line about trace amounts was strangely missing from a drug-testing program summary ITC gave the Alaska media. The media and musher handouts were basically the same otherwise, although some paragraphs had been reorganized.
Whether the trace drugs were cortico or anabolic steroids is unclear.
Anabolic steroids – such as testosterone – are often used in cattle. Anabolics help make the animals beefy.
“These drugs boost production of growth-stimulating hormones that help the animal convert feed into muscle, fat, and other tissues more efficiently than they would naturally,” writes Julia Calderone at Business Insider.
“This artificial plumping process boosts the amount of meat that farmers can sell per animal, putting more money into their pockets.”
An implant gun can be used to shoot a hormone pill in between a cow’s skin and muscle where it will slowly dissolve to enter the bloodstream. Testosterone or other anabolic steroids could then show up in dogs fed large quantities of the meat.
Testosterone used to enhance performance or to keep female dogs from going into heat has, however, been a persistent problem in the greyhound racing world. Florida is now considering a state law to ban it.
It is but one of the dog-racing problems in the lower 48. Greyhound tracks – like the Iditarod – are in a struggle to survive as animal rights organizations continue to push to an end to dog-racing as a sport.
Greyhound racing would, however, appear far more vulnerable to attack than the Iditarod.
“In the past four years alone, at least 383 greyhounds have died at racetracks in Florida,” the Miami New Times reported in November. That is an average to close to 100 dogs a year.
The Iditarod had a good run of death-free years before the death of one dog on the trail in 2016 and four on the trail last year.
Race officials are optimistic about a death-free run to Nome this year. The dogs are carefully examined for health and heart issues before the race.