Born to Run: Athletes of the Iditarod by Albert Lewis
Photographer Albert Lewis recently completed this stunning coffee table book featuring the dogs of the grueling 1000+ mile Iditarod dog sled race. (You may have seen his highly successful Kickstarter campaign over the summer.) Born to Run: Athletes of the Iditarod is a love letter to these beautiful and inspiring canine athletes, whose hearts and souls are captured in brilliant studio portraits.
Get your paws on a hardbound copy right here.
What gorgeous pups!
Beautiful photos, but they’re celebrating a “sport” that many critics believe is a form of animal cruelty. Not only because of the culling of dogs in the selection of race-worthy animals, but also alleged behind-the-scenes abuse by trainers and the extreme conditions of the race itself. It’s noteworthy that Alaska’s anti-abuse legislation specifically exempts the Iditarod.
As someone who has attended five consecutive Iditarods and is currently planning for the sixth, I can vouch for the excitement the dogs (and their mushers) feel at the start of the race. I’ve been waiting for this book to be published, reading Mr Lewis’ interviews in the meantime, and what impresses me most isn’t just the pictures–it’s how he freely admits that until he saw for himself how much the dogs love what they do, he was skeptical about the race.
If all the ignorant anti-mushing people would bother to come see for themselves what Mr Lewis, and I, and so many others have seen first-hand and now *know* to be fact, there would no longer *be* any anti-mushing people. There truly are none so blind as those who will not see.
I’ve never attended an Iditarod, I’m only basing my statements on reports by trusted news sources such as NPR and the official positions of animal rescue groups I trust. The Humane Society of the United States, hardly a radical animal rights group, officially opposes the Iditarod. They do not oppose all forms of mushing, they actually celebrate it as an excellent form of exercise for dogs and a great human/dog bonding experience, but they have spoken out against the Iditarod specifically, which results in at least one dog death each year, sometimes as many as 5 or 6. And that doesn’t include the behind the scenes conditions that race spectators are not privy to. I’m not anti-mushing, nor do I think critically examining issues from multiple angles makes one “blind.” I only hope that changes can be made to the race that will perhaps result in less suffering and deaths for dogs and leave their amazing athleticism untarnished.
I hate to break it to you, but you really need to be first-hand there (and I have been behind the scenes; I’ve been to kennels of Iditarod racers) before you start saying what you say. B/c much of the information that you cling to is outdated.
For instance, the last time there were any canine fatalities in the Iditarod was 2009, when an inexperienced rookie was pinned down in a blizzard and foolishly did not shelter his dogs correctly. None in 2010, none in 2011, none in 2012. It’s no longer accurate to say “Oh, it’s a killer race.” It would be like saying that flying in a small airplane is dangerous because there was a small-plane crash in NYC in 2005 (I remember that incident).
It’s generally felt in the mushing community that tighter qualifications for rookies (inexperience is the true danger), constantly-expanding vet care (52 vets moving w/ the race, checking the dogs before and during the race and sending those home who are at any risk), more education for mushers themselves (a good example would be that 20 years ago nobody knew what nutrition was best for any dog, not just racers–now the diets are scientificially planned for the best results), has made racing much safer, much better all around. And it wasn’t because of some group speaking against it, but because the mushers themselves want the sport to be as good, as great, as it can be.
Culling is passe in the way that you mean it, incidentally, and has been passe for well over a decade. The practice is now to neuter/spay a dog that’s not quite up to top-caliber and either give them as pets or sell them to recreational mushers (many a weekend-musher in AK can say “Oh, my dog So-and-so is from Top-Name Kennel!”, and be truthful). So see, again you are basing your belief on outdated, inaccurate info, and that saddens me.
Also…if you believe that the HSUS is “hardly a radical animal rights group”, you might want to do some research into their own behind-the-scenes. For their chairman has been known to say that if he had his way, all domestic animals would no longer exist.
I urge you again, spend the money and come up to see the race with your own eyes, firsthand. For it’s clear you have only listened to secondary sources (dubious at that) and done nothing to examine the issue from the dogs’ POV, from the mushers’ POV. Talk to the mushers. Watch the dogs. They will tell you the facts. You can even visit a kennel and get trampled by the friendly dogs, as I have for five straight years. They just want to do their thing. Let them.
I already have my copy of the book and it’s fabulous. I hope to start volunteering for the Iditarod as soon as I relocate to Alaska in the next couple of years. Good luck mushers! I’ll be watching online again this year!