GLAMOUR and Colbert Honor Blind Iditarod Racer

It sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? But it’s not funny. Glamour magazine presented its "Woman of the Year" award to an Iditarod racer, Rachel Scdoris, who is legally blind, and, from what I can see, tall, blonde, well-endowed, and gorgeous. Gee, if she were diminutive and overweight with the haircut Rosie O’Donnell had when she first came out of the closet, I wonder if she would’ve won?

Hmmmmm.

Anyway, she chose a handful of people to present her with the award, and for some reason Stephen Colbert, whom I liked until now (and don’t think I’m NOT going to let him know that) was honored with honoring Scdoris.

In March, she finished the Iditarod, which is a 1150 mile race across Alaskan tundra. No, silly, she didn’t run the race. She made a bunch of dogs chauffer her on a sled. Wow, what a workout! Maybe I’ll trade in my Budokon DVDs for some dogs.

Let’s deconstruct the Iditarod:

• At least one dog dies in every Iditarod (a total of over 130 reported deaths) from: strangulation by the towlines, internal hemorrhaging, liver injury, heart failure, pneumonia, and the most shocking death in 1985, where a musher kicked his dog to death. For more grisly details of dog deaths during the Iditarod, click here.
• On average, 50% of the dogs who start the race cannot make it across the finish line (due to exhaustion, spinal injuries, bone fractures, cut paws, torn muscles, dehydration, and massive amounts of stress).
• There is no official count of how many dogs die after the race or during training (where the dogs are forced to pull heavy loads, which can cause hip and spine injuries).
• The Iditarod officially qualifies as animal cruelty according to laws of 38 states and the District of Columbia ("overdriving" and "overworking" an animal is considered cruel).
• The State of Alaska doesn’t include "overdriving" and "overworking" as cruel in its statute. Hmmmmmm. I wonder how much money this "sport" brings into Alasksa. Perhaps that has something to do with its ineffective, incomplete statute?
• Very few native Alaskans participate (they can’t afford to–it costs up to $60,000 to put a team together).
• Mushers who are hired by corporations receive substantial financial benefits, as do the winners (and there are several points along the trail that have prizes attached to them). In 2000, $525,000 was divided among the top 30 finishers.
• Mushers kill unwanted sled-dog puppies by shooting them in the head.
• Many of the dogs spend their non-Iditarod lives chained to their dog house on a chain as short as four feet long. Some are tethered to exercise wheels so they’re constantly training.
• Lead dogs are often available for breeding (cha-ching!).

When I told my husband what I was writing about this morning, he said:

Honey, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The magazine is called "Glamour,"  not "Internal Glow," "Eternal Bliss," or "Conscience." They don’t care about what you care about. Have you ever read that magazine? Do you even know where to buy it?"

No, and no. But, be that as it may: How is making dogs run over a thousand miles in freezing temperatures, injured, after you’ve "trained" the spirit and practically the life out of them, GLAMOUROUS?

I call that cruelty. Whether you’re legally blind or have eagle-eye vision, it’s cruelty. Go to www.helpsleddogs.org for more info.