Sled Dog Watchdog - Feedback 1

'Yukon Quest regrets'

To whom it may concern:

This is a letter of apology for having contributed to the promotion of the Yukon Quest International
Dog Sled Race.

I entered a contest on October 20th, 2006 promoted by the Yukon Quest and Alaska Coffee Roasting
Co. The announcement on the Yukon Quest Website looking for artists read as follows: "The Alaska
Coffee Roasting Company in conjunction with the Yukon Quest International, Ltd. (Alaska) is seeking
artists to create the label for ACRC's new Yukon Quest Blend coffee." The prize was to be …"a gift
package from ACRC and Yukon Quest valued at $300, as well as promotion of their image on every
bag of Yukon Quest Blend Coffee." I entered believing that, "Gee, I love sled dogs and I love coffee,
maybe I'll get some free coffee and I'll have some connection to this sport about which I have
misguided romantic notions."

I submitted artwork of my own dog digitally doctored to resemble a woodcut print. A couple of weeks
later I was contacted by the office of the Yukon Quest Project Coordinator telling me they liked my
submission, but could I make it look more like an Alaskan Husky (my own dog is a Samoyed). I told
them I would try and I did, but it was not working out. I explained that I used a Samoyed for the
artwork because it was derived from my own photograph and I would not be willing to grab a photo,
which I did not own, of an Alaskan Husky off the internet. They gave me some excellent photos that
they purportedly owned and that I was free to use.

I did a number of mock-ups with the text, which were not originally required, but I included them for a
more finished look. They chose two and asked me to send them to ACRC, which I did. I was contacted
by ACRC and given further instructions on what to modify on the one they liked, which I did. After I
sent the final piece on December 28th, I was informed that I won the art contest. Not surprisingly, I felt
it was somewhat anti-climactic, since they (Yukon Quest and ACRC) were using me like their personal
art department.

After considering my less than enthusiastic reaction I decided to write an email expressing a proper
thank you to the ACRC. I then awaited my prize. While I was waiting, I checked the website for updates
about the race. It was then that I began to feel uneasy. First one dog, then two dogs, and finally three
dogs had died in a futile attempts to win the race for their masters. What began with an annoyance at
being ignored and disregarded for my efforts turned into a sick-to-my-stomach feeling over this thing
that killed dogs, beautiful working sled dogs.

As my uneasiness increased so did my awareness of the senseless brutality that has accompanied these
long distance dog sled races. Not only by the dogs' being pushed to run hard for impossible distances,
but by the stories of dogs culled by mushers' at their kennels, or left tied up for days with inadequate
protection. I understand these practices do not apply to all mushers, but not even one should be
allowed to abuse the very creatures that would give them glory. I'm not against those that would
reinforce the drive in a sled dog that connects it with its' genetic history, just the act of pushing these
great dogs to abuse for the sake of winning a long distance race, personal glory, money, or to prove
some sort of outdoor ruggedness.

It's no secret that remote places count on tourist dollars garnered by these events i.e. The Yukon Quest
and the Iditarod, but the price is very high and there are those like myself who have yet to discover the
real price of long distance dog sled races. Why can't there be events that celebrate the working sled dog
without killing them as a consequence. I live in Southern California, if I've learned about these things,
others will also wake up and realize it's not worth the blood of man's best friend.

I'm not waiting for my "gift package" anymore, neither do I want it, nor anything else associated with
the Yukon Quest International Dog Sled Race, the Iditarod or any of their sponsors. Whatever romantic
notion I had of dog sled racing was laid to rest with those three dogs that were killed on the trail of the
Yukon Quest.

Sincerely,

Regina Neri
[Regina Neri lives in Southern California]

Samples of work submitted to YQ and ACRC available for reference:

http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc147/rneri64/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Did Mother Nature create the canine to be used and abused by humans?'

Although the Yukon is no longer my home I think of it every day, sometimes most of the day, and I
have continued to keep up with the goings on from afar (Sigh...).

Every time the Yukon Quest is being discussed, and oh what a hot liver snap that is, it seems
nothing changes except mushers get longer in the tooth and sled dogs get more crippled and
ignored. Where, I wonder, does anyone get the idea that Mother Nature created the canine to be
used and abused by humans? How do you think She feels about what she sees us so-called
intelligent beings doing/not doing for a select group of her treasured children? Would we put our 3
yr. old children outside on tethers attached to little shacks too far apart from their own kind to play
and learn social skills?

With little affection but much hard running, often in the most extreme conditions, can we truly be
comfortable knowing that these beings are roughly as intelligent and have the same capacity to feel
pain and suffering as 3 yr. old humans? Is it acceptable to put down human children that show clear
signs of never being what we had hoped they could be, breeding more until we find the best genetic
creation for our wishes?

Does it make sense that beings who have the ability to save us from fires, drownings, accidents,
loneliness, depression and getting lost in the woods don't have the same rights as their fellow beings
with two legs who expect to be treated with regard and compassion?

Here's what I think should be played on the Discovery Channel's series "Out in the Cold"; video of a
typical sled dog yard on any given day, video of the gruelling conditions out on the trails scrambling
over jumble ice or in the middle of bone-numbing blizzards where not a marker can be found to
keep the blinded dogs on course for their musher's need to be a winner. And of course add in
some shots of cull days with the faces of those who participate in such horrid things. Would the
public still feel so romantic towards the adventures these greatest of athletes are forced into?

When glass walls are installed on each and every sled dog's life with video 24/7 for all the world to
view I'd guess the whole industry of dog sledding would have to shift its paradigm, I mean who would
want any association with it after seeing the unnatural and sad way so many of these dogs are forced to
live?

And let's not keep changing the subject to avoid the issue at hand. Animals that are kept by people
that abuse them with too much or not enough to eat, confine them in unhealthy environments, train
them to be fighters and killers, experiment on them for useless scientific research on consumer
products, etc. are all concerns but, again, not the topic being discussed at the moment.

Do I see a show of musher's hands that are fighting for the rights of the above mentioned? Hmmm,
it's hard to see in the darkness we seem to find ourselves in as a species on this shared spaceship
we all ride on.

Andrea Kelly (Ontario)
[This letter was published in Whitehorse Star on January 28, 2008]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tearing down freedom of expression

To the individual(s) who have been tearing down sled dog advocacy posters in downtown Whitehorse:
You are very cowardly.

If this is the same person (highly paid government official with a professional background) who
bragged about similar handiwork in a Whitehorse bar earlier this year, shame on you!

Have a double shot of animal cruelty with your friends tonight.

Terry Cumming
Whitehorse

[Letter published in Yukon News, October 12th, 2007]

The 'offending posters' protesting the Yukon Quest annual fund raiser at Zola's Cafe Dore in
Whitehorse:

[Poster #1] Yukon Quest Athletes' Village

[Poster #2] Licenced to Kill

[Poster #3] Mackey's dog team is in the dark

[Poster #4] Have a 'double-shot' of animal cruelty!

[Poster #5] Wake up and smell the coffee

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sled dog advocacy?

Some of you in Whitehorse may have seen the posters put up by Terry Cumming, opposing the Yukon
Quest in particular and mushing in general, due to what Terry claims is the cruelty of the sport. I know
Cumming well, and have just ignored his nonsense up until yesterday when I read his letter to the
editor in which he trashes the person/people who is/are tearing down his posters, calling them “very
cowardly.”

I’ve discovered that for some reason Whitehorse has no bylaws preventing him or anyone else from
posting up such posters on light poles or trash bins, though they’re every bit as obnoxious as that of
any of the other brainless “taggers” in this town.

If Cumming chose to target the places where dog cruelty actually takes place (or animal cruelty in other
forms), I’d continue to ignore him or maybe even support what he’s doing, but targeting mushers just
puts my blood on low simmer.

Any of you who know huskies know that you cannot force a husky to run. They love to run, and when
they feel like quitting they do — period.

Mushers don’t beat their dogs to make them run. Yes, they live much of their lives tethered to their
doghouses — how is that any worse than the way much of the human population lives? (No, I certainly
do not include myself in that number).

Sled dogs get high-quality meals a couple of times a day — how many million people in the world can
only dream about being that lucky? Check out a few of the Yukon/Alaska mushers’ websites for photos
of their dogs and compare them to any number of photos you’ll see on tonight’s news — who is
healthier, who is having a better life?

Sticking to dog cruelty, though, Cumming needs to focus on the problem that he knows well from his
years working with the Mae Bachur shelter — people who refuse to spay or neuter their animals.

How many sled dogs die each year doing what they love to do compared to the number of dogs who
are ploughed under at the Whitehorse garbage dump every year because nobody wants them?

How many who do survive end up on apartment balconies or tied in backyards with no exercise,
minimal food and no love?

I see professional mushers who even have chiropractors to help keep their dogs in shape — how many
of you have ever taken your dog to a chiropractor?

Cumming, get a life — I haven’t been one of the people who tears down your posters, but I’m going to
start.

As you stated in your letter to the editor that your “freedom of expression” allows you to put up those
posters, my freedom of expression allows me to take them down.

Murray Lundberg
Whitehorse
[Letter published in Yukon News on October 24, 2007]

[Ed. Note - Murray Lundberg is a self-professed 'Yukon historian' and web author with
close ties to the Yukon Quest (and the Yukon/Alaskan sled dog tour industry). He is also
a former board member of the Yukon Quest. Mr. Lundberg has plans to set up a web site
called sleddogwatch.com, in order to tell HIS VERSION of the truth about the lives of sled
dogs - Mr. Lundberg and I know each other MUCH BETTER than we did before he wrote
this letter which he also posted on his web blog, receiving 'slaps on the back' of support
from his little band of (mostly nameless) dog mushing industry fanatics.]

For more information about Mr. Lundberg's views, please visit these links:

http://www.animalperson.net/animal_person/2007/10/chime-in-regard.html

http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/17275

http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/17354

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Response to Murray Lundberg

'Dogged pursuit of an end'

I write this letter in response to A. Murray Lundberg’s hatchet-job letter (‘Sled dog advocacy?’) in last
Wednesday’s Yukon News.

Mr. Lundberg posted a similar message on his tourist information blog, where he and his band of
followers continue to spread further venom (on Monday, Mr. Lundberg was banned from posting on
one animal rights blog in the South because of his abusive language).

Since writing his letter, he has had his rear end handed to him on a platter, served up half a dozen
ways, from intelligent and thoughtful animal advocates in the South. He may have also done serious
harm to his reputation as a Yukon citizen/business person/historian, but I will leave that to society to
judge, and ask him to do some deep reflection about his words and behaviour.

This letter is also addressed to Mr. Stephen Reynolds, executive director of the Yukon Quest, to inform
him that his organization’s continuous failure to respond to allegations of Yukon Quest sled dog cruelty
only encourages misguided zealots ('loose cannons') like Lundberg to respond on its behalf.

In a matter of days, after a weekend of online battle, he has seriously helped tarnish the image of the
Quest and Yukon dog mushing in general.

The main issue our organization and its supporters want addressed is that of 2007 Yukon Quest race
marshal Mike McCowan’s statement that the Quest organization is not concerned about the issue of
Yukon Quest mushers’ dog-culling policies and practices (in response to Quest musher Frank Turner’s
plea the Quest secure a pledge from prospective Quest competitors that they “do not cull dogs”).

We also respectfully suggest that major Quest race sponsor, Yukon Tourism, have a talk with Reynolds
and ask him to (in a serious manner) respond to this and other concerns about sled dog treatment,
because Tourism’s relationship with the Quest may, in the very near future, have a negative effect on
animal lovers in the South wishing to visit our otherwise very beautiful Yukon Territory.

We await your response.

Terry Cumming
SledDogWatchdog.com
Whitehorse, Yukon
[An edited version of this letter was published in October 31, 2007 Yukon News]

AS PER USUAL, NO RESPONSE WAS EVER RECEIVED FROM THE YUKON QUEST OR THEIR
GOOD FRIENDS AT TOURISM YUKON/YUKON TOURISM