The TODAY Show goes green in Greenland but what about the dogs?
Howllo Fellow Hound and Greenland Dog lovers:
I was shocked and appalled at how Matt Lauer reported about the dogs of Greenland on the TODAY show. He tells the viewers that these are the only dogs allowed in Greenland and by law they must remained chained out doors when they are not busting buns for humans. Then he goes on to say how he is afraid to turn his back on them. Is he so frozen his heart stopped?
If you cannot see the video let me tell you, Matt is totally clueless. It is so sad.
Many organizations are horrified at how these dogs are treated and are taking massive efforts to help these beautiful creatures.
I think the TODAY show turned their back, (just like Matt did) on the sled dogs of Greenland. They are trying to shed light on global warming and the dangers ahead, but what about the current and present abuse and neglect of these dogs? Do you have a comment or update. I am still googling and researching. I would love to hear from you. Several folks are commenting. Thank you.
Just heart breaking
More Later…Cat, Chaps and Emma
Comments(17)
People need to google this. Dogs in Greenland are treated like trash. I find the TODAY show hypocritical. Matt had no idea what he was talking about. How could he do this? What a jerk.
I just found this blog. Here are some links that I follow. I live in Denmark. These dogs are sweet and kind. How could USA not mention it on a world wide show?
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GreenlandSledDogs/
Do not click on the link if you are weak. I will tell you this is how the dogs of Greenland are treated. Your country invades, but does not learn. Shame on you! Ree from Iceland
http://www.actionagainstpoisoning.com/page10/page281/crysleddog.html
The abuse is tolerated beyond what you can think. I try my best. Thank you for this USA blog. Cicu
Ree, please do not hate me. I try everything to get the word out. I can understand how you feel, but don’t hate me. I am trying to get the word out! OK?
Many may not agree, but I think, the cold air makes humans STUPID/////////////// Poor dogs
I live in AK. My dogs sleep in my bed.
Let me tell you. These dogs of Greenland. are in hell..I see it and I am hoping for them. I walk by them every day as I go home to England. I take pictures. This country is so sad regarding their dogs. The only way I posted on this site is because I have a basset hound. Way too wild.
Cicu: I am sick over this. Will you please e-mail me? I want to help the poor dogs. bassethoundtown@fuse.net
It is the law. All dogs in Greenland must be chained out side. Do you know how cold it is in Greenland? Check it out. Dogs want help, please
Many thanks for postingthis. I just e-mailed that show. The Today show. Donald
I saw that on the Today show also. I thought is was very strange how the situation was addressed. I like Donald’s idea. Think I will do the same.
You country has a website. I adore you!
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/home.html
Todd, I link to this site. No dog should be chained. I work so hard to make this come true. This is one of my tireless efforts. We love you Todd!
This is so sad. Thank you for doing a blog. I googled this and found you. I have a huge e-mail base. It is people like you that make a difference for dogs that are being frozen, to death. Thank you. So much
Greenland hates dogs. The laws show it. Check it out
Matt Lauer and the Today Show have a history of turning their backs on sled dogs. They have promoted the barbaric Iditarod several times. For the facts about Iditarod cruelties, please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website, http://www.helpsleddogs.org
Here’s a short list of what happens to the dogs during the Iditarod: death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia, ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons, vomiting, hypothermia, sprains, fur loss, broken teeth, torn footpads and anemia.
At least 133 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race’s early years. In “WinterDance: the Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod,” a nonfiction book, Gary Paulsen describes witnessing an Iditarod musher brutally kicking a dog to death during the race. He wrote, “All the time he was kicking the dog. Not with the imprecision of anger, the kicks, not kicks to match his rage but aimed, clinical vicious kicks. Kicks meant to hurt deeply, to cause serious injury. Kicks meant to kill.”
Causes of death have also included strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and pneumonia. “Sudden death” and “external myopathy,” a fatal condition in which a dog’s muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also occurred. The 1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was accused of striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal claw). In 1996, one of Rick Swenson’s dogs died while he mushed his team through waist-deep water and ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both mushers from the race but later reinstated them. In many states these incidents would be considered animal cruelty. Swenson is now on the Iditarod Board of Directors.
In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by inmates and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and died. Another dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.
No one knows how many dogs die in training or after the race each year.
On average, 53 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do cross, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.
Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40 years, tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:
“They’ve had the hell beaten out of them.” “You don’t just whisper into their ears, OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.’ They understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And you know what? They are all lying.” -USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon Saraceno’s column
Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing Manual, “I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that “Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'” “Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective…A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective.” “It is a common training device in use among dog mushers…A whip is a very humane training tool.”
During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain. Brooks admitted to hitting his dogs with a wooden trail marker when they refused to run. The Iditarod Trail Committee suspended Brooks for two years, but only for the actions he admitted. By ignoring eyewitness accounts, the Iditarod encouraged animal abuse. When mushers know that eyewitness accounts will be disregarded, they are more likely to hurt their dogs and lie about it later.
Mushers believe in “culling” or killing unwanted dogs, including puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to death. “On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don’t pull are dragged to death in harnesses…..” wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska’s Bush Blade Newspaper (March, 2000).
Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, “He [Colonel Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens. Or dragging them to their death.”
The Iditarod, with its history of abuse, could not be legally held in many states, because doing so would violate animal cruelty laws.
Iditarod administrators promote the race as a commemoration of sled dogs saving the children of Nome by bringing diphtheria serum from Anchorage in 1925. However, the co-founder of the Iditarod, Dorothy Page, said the race was not established to honor the sled drivers and dogs who carried the serum. In fact, 600 miles of this serum delivery was done by train and the other half was done by dogs running in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles. This isn’t anything like the Iditarod.
The race has led to the proliferation of horrific dog kennels in which the dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs and some have as many as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their entire lives outside tethered to metal chains that can be as short as four feet long. In 1997 the United States Department of Agriculture determined that the tethering of dogs was inhumane and not in the animals’ best interests. The chaining of dogs as a primary means of enclosure is prohibited in all cases where federal law applies. A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area.
Iditarod dogs are prisoners of abuse.
Margery Glickman
Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org
Dear Margery: Thank you so much for your detailed information and link to your website. It just breaks my heart.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful website.
Cat, Chaps and Emma