The documentary details how sled dogs are worked to exhaustion and injury, sometimes to the point of being too weak to eat or drink.
Image Credit: YouTube/CBC
A new award-winning documentary exposes the shocking animal cruelty
in the dogsledding industry.
Sled Dogs, directed by Fern Levitt, reveals abusive methods that
mushers use in their quest to achieve victory in grueling races like
the Iditarod, which has seen more than 150 dogs die since it began
in 1973.
The documentary details how sled dogs are worked to exhaustion and
injury, sometimes to the point of being too weak to eat or drink.
More than 220 dogs were removed from the trail during last year’s
Iditarod, according to the documentary.
Dogs also die during the off-season when they are deemed too slow or
unfit to compete. Canines who do not perform to some handlers’
standards are considered unprofitable for tourism, and these
“surplus dogs” are shot, bludgeoned, or abandoned. Treated like
disposable commodities, those who kept alive are forced to live in
freezing, deplorable conditions without adequate shelter,
companionship, or veterinary care, the documentary shows.
One heartbreaking scene in Sled Dogs shows a pile of at least seven
dead sled dogs that perished inside a shed in Alaska after their
caretaker abandoned them.
The documentary unveils these sobering truths through interviews
with former mushers, including sled-dog-handler-turned-activist Mike
Crawford, and firsthand footage of the suffering these innocent
animals endure.
Sled Dogs is now available on Plex and Amazon Prime Video.