Sled Dog Watchdog - Yukon Quest Hey Teacher!

'Yukon Quest-mania' is so all-pervasive in the Yukon that the event is even promoted to elementary school
children in Yukon classrooms. The Quest has an 'Education Section' on its website with suggested lesson
topics to teach school children about the Quest. Perhaps if parents were made aware of the various forms
of harm inflicted on Quest sled dogs, they would not condone having their children being indoctrinated
into the 'ways of the Quest.'

Yukon school teachers would make better use of their teaching skills by educating students about respect
for animals, something that is direly needed in the Yukon. These students will then develop a
compassionate ethic with regard to how they should treat animals throughout their lives. As an alternative
to the Quest classroom propaganda, please visit the Teachkind.org website, which contains information
for teaching children about the 'other side' of Alaska's Iditarod, lessons that are equally applicable to the
Yukon Quest.

Transcript of February 15, 2006 interview with school teacher who teaches children about
the Yukon Quest:

[Sports reporter, Ron McFadyen]
The Department of Education's Yukon Quest Student Challenge website is using innovative assisted
learning techniques to bring a Yukon tradition into the classroom. Cathi Dunham is a longtime Quest
volunteer from her teaching days in Carmacks when she and her husband staffed the checkpoint there.
Dunham, now a teacher at Selkirk Elementary School in Whitehorse, says the dog race has become a topic
of interest for the students.

[Dunham]
"What we've done over the last couple of years is encourage kids to follow the race and follow the
mushers and one of the ways to get kids involved is to do a read-a-thon and the idea is to reach either
Whitehorse or Fairbanks, depending on the year, before the leading mushers get there, so you have 1,000
miles, so whether that means you read 1,000 pages or you read for 1,000 minutes. Teachers can figure
out which works best for their kids so it's a way to have them involved, have them reading newspapers,
books and getting some of the literacy skills in."

[McFadyen]
The Yukon Quest challenge began Saturday, February 11th, to coincide with the beginning of the world
famous 1,000 mile sled dog race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. Students in the Yukon and across North
America will be incorporating the toughest sled dog race in the world into their daily lessons when they
download or post poems to the website. Dunham says the spirit of the Quest becomes a big part of the
student's fun at school.

[Dunham]
"I don't think it takes the work out of reading. I think it makes reading a little more fun and because the
kids can actually get involved. They can actually go down and see the mushers so they can have a name
and face to put into place and then carrying on from one year to another. I had a former student just pop
in the other day just to make sure I knew he was actually following the race this year, and it's just because
of something that was sparked last year and he's just taken another year of his own."

[McFadyen]
Students have interactive maps which they can follow during the race, vocabulary lists, math exercises,
media updates and a discussion page where students can post messages and respond to each other. To
join the student Quest, go the Department of Education's Yukon Quest Challenge website and follow the
dogs.

(Radio interview by Ron McFadyen - copyright 2006 CKRW)

Origin of Yukon Quest [according to 'Student Yukon Quest' website]
The Yukon Quest began as a shared dream of musher LeRoy Shank and non-musher and historian Roger
Williams. They dedicated their vision to the gold seekers, mail carriers, trappers and the traders who
settled the great North during the turn of the century.

Origin of Yukon Quest [according to 'Racing the White Silence,' by Adam Killick]
The Yukon Quest was born from a dissatisfaction with that corporate thirst [Ed. Note - of Alaska's Iditarod
race], and from a few too many beers at a bar near Fairbanks.

Origin of Yukon Quest [according to 'Yukon Quest,' by John Firth]
There were four of them at the table in the Bull's Eye Saloon following the race: Williams, Shank, Ron
Rosser and Willie Libb, a Fairbanks musher who specializes in sprints and middle distance events. The
beer was flowing easily and the imaginations of the drivers started to get fairly well lubricated. It started
out as a casual comment, something like "God, this is a fun race, wouldn't it be nice if they made it a little
longer?"

Yukon Quest 'race scenarios' submitted by students:

[Scenario 9]
You are 20 miles downriver from Dawson. The river trail is hard and fast. It's daylight and about -30 C
(about -22 F). All of a sudden you hear a CRACK, and your dogs are swimming. You get your sled
stopped and ice hook set, but you realize the front half of the team broke through an ice shelf, and water
is rushing around them. You realize that the pull of the water on the swimming dogs is threatening to pull
the rest of your team and sled into the water. You jump into the chest-deep water and start lifting your
dogs out onto what is left of the ice shelf. Once you have all the dogs out, what do you do next? How
long until you start feeling the wet and cold?

[Scenario 11]
Eagle Summit has a very steep slope and lies about 35 km outside of Central towards Fairbanks. The next
shelter (Dogdrop 101) is about 5 hours away. Mushers have often carried gear up that slope to ease the
burden on their dogs. You started the race in Whitehorse. You are in Central and arrived at sunset 2 hours
after the musher in 1st place. The weather report says, that a big storm is coming and winds on Eagle
Summit will increase over night to 80 km/h. One hour after you fed and watered your team, you see the
other musher preparing to leave the checkpoint. This scenario actually happened during the 1999 'race
within the race' between Nadeau (back then called by newspapers 'the ghost') and Lee. What should you
do and why? (Explain the risks and benefits of your decision)

Optional:
Explain what heavy winds can do to a trail or tracks in the snow.
Explain the difference between 'following' and 'breaking' a trail and how it affects your dog team.

[Scenario 13]
Your Worst Nightmare:
You and your dogs are forging a trail along the mighty Yukon River. Everybody is well-fed and happy,
until your lead dog suddenly stops. Putting down the ice hook, you check the trail. And then you see
them. Wolves. Mostly female, lying in the middle of the trail. To make matters worse, you can see wolf
cubs, three of them, lying by their mother. Wolves with pups are extremely dangerous, and you don't
want to risk your dog/s lives or your own. What do you do next?

[Scenario 15]
Nick's Scenario:
You are mushing along, when you begin to notice that the trail is really punchy. Because of the trail, you
decide to stop and put booties on your dogs. Halfway through putting the booties on your dogs, a moose
comes and charges you and your dogs. You think its killed 2 of your dogs, but you're not sure. It has
however, broken your leg, and your dogs are attacking it. Do you use your axe to try and attack it or do
you let your dogs handle it? When the moose is dead, what do you do?

[Scenario 23]
Kaylee's Scenario:
Both of your parents, and your older brother have run the Yukon Quest, and your brother and your mom
have won it, and your father came in second. You remember this when you are about to get into Angel
Creek. You are under a lot of pressure to win the race, your family expects you to win, and if you don't
they will be very disappointed.

At this point in time, you are in second place, but not far from being behind the person in first. But you
are getting farther and farther behind him, because your dogs are not moving, you tell them to keep on
going but they won't budge, they are way too tired and very cold. Do you quit the race for the sake of
your dogs? Do you force your dogs to go, so you're [sic.] family won't be disappointed in you?

Yukon Quest 'Math Challenge':

3. Dogs on a team are often related to each other. For instance, on one team, Smokey is the son of Chief,
and Razor is the great grandfather of Junior. Junior is the grandson of Chief. Put the four dogs in order
from the youngest to the oldest…

7. Sarka wanted to train her dogs on a clear, starry night. Because of a weather condition known as an
"inversion", the colder air was settled in lower areas, and it was warmer at higher elevations. It was -44
degrees Fahrenheit on her favorite trail in the Tanana flats. She decided to use the trails in Two Rivers,
because it was only -6 F there. How many degrees warmer was it in Two Rivers?

Sources:

Yukon Government Press Release About 'Quest Student Challenge'

Yesnet Quest website

Yukon College Quest website

Humane Education-related links:

A Kid's Thoughts [About the Iditarod]

National Association for Humane and Environmental Education

The Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education (all ages)

ACTION ALERT: 'School Superintendent Promoting Cruel Iditarod'

Animal Writings - Iditarod Propaganda

'Cruel Traditions: The Alaskan Iditarod'

George W. is High on Killing!

If you are concerned about the Yukon Quest being promoted in Yukon classrooms, please (in a respectful
manner) contact the following persons/organizations:

Yukon Minister of Education

Yukon Teachers' Association

Yukon Quest 'Student Challenge' Coordinator