Iditarod dog death under investigation
RAMY BROOKS: Musher's 12th-place finish was not recorded.
Published: March 15, 2007
Last Modified: March 15, 2007 at 03:41 AM
An investigation was under way Wednesday night into the death of a dog in the team of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher Ramy Brooks from Nenana.
Details were sketchy about the third dog to die in this race.
Iditarod officials issued a press release in which race marshal Mark Nordman said that "for the time being, I have not assigned an official finishing time for Ramy.''
That statement was unusual.
Two to four dogs usually die during the Iditarod, and almost always it is due to something undetectable to the musher or beyond his or her control.
Such cases are usually resolved quickly, and the musher is allowed to continue if he or she wishes.
Karen Ramstead from Perryvale, Alberta, and Matt Hayashida of Willow both had dogs die in this race prior to the Brooks incident.
Though it was determined that there was nothing Ramstead could have done to prevent the death of her dog Snickers, she decided to drop out of the race. Hayashida, whose dog died Wednesday morning, was permitted to continue and was out of Elim later in the day behind 10 dogs.
"The loss was devastating,'' Ramstead said in an e-mail after the death. Snickers was a purebred Siberian husky, an oddity in the modern Iditarod, a show dog when not racing who was more family than pet to Ramstead.
"Her life may have been too short, but it was a fulfilling and fun one,'' Ramstead said.
No details about Brooks' dead dog were available. The press release said a necropsy was to be performed to determine exactly how it died.
"As per our standard procedure,'' that release added, "we will evaluate the results of the necropsy and have up to eight hours to complete the initial process. Had this occurred at a checkpoint on the trail, Ramy may have been required to have stayed in that checkpoint for up to eight hours.
"We will work to complete the gross necropsy and my evaluations as quickly yet thoroughly as possible.''
Brooks arrived in Nome on Wednesday afternoon. He was the 12th musher to cross the finish line, arriving just in front of two-time Iditarod champ Robert Sorlie of Norway, who finished at 7:34 p.m.
Officially, however, Sorlie was being shown as the 12th-place finisher in Iditarod standings on Wednesday night, while Brooks was still being reported as on the trail from Safety.
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