Second Iditarod Dog Dies, But Eagles Live
Thanks to Terry and Mark for alerting me to the second dog in the Iditarod to die. This one died when a snowmobiler ran into a team of dogs. How exactly can something like that happen? How do you not see 14 dogs and a sled coming at you, and what are you doing riding close enough to them for a collision to occur?
Mark’s site has comments already under way, and yes, someone has already said that dogs love to run. Terry’s comment from yesterday, that he prefers to say that Zaster, the first dog, "was killed" rather than "died" got me thinking. I don’t think you can apply it to the second dog, unless another known risk of the race is potentially-fatal collisions with snowmobiles.
What do you think? Would you say Zaster was killed?
Next, under the heading "Give the Guy Some Credit . . . Or Not," we have developer Bobby Ginn, whose development a scant 50 miles north of me, is making national news. Ginn decided not to build on some of the more desirable (read: priciest) lots of one of his golf course communities because a couple of bald eagles had made their home there. In "Florida Golf Development, Eagles Coexist," Brian Skoloff reports that: "Ginn saw an opportunity not just to protect the environment in one of his latest multimillion-dollar ventures, but to make the eagles a selling point." Ginn donated 120 acres, which is up to $40 million in home sites, to be preserved and is controlled by Audubon of Florida. Before you start thinking this decision might cost him, check out his properties and his quote in Skoloff’s article: "What’s good for the eagles has been good for business. The area’s natural beauty and wildlife figure into the marketing of the development."
The nesting pair has hatched two eaglets who have their own reality show (check out the Eagle Cam), which you may or may not agree with.
I know, I know, it’s difficult to give a developer any kind of credit when you consider all of the other environmental devastation occurring as a result of everything that comes with leveling an area’s trees and plants, killing and displacing animals, and constructing monstrous homes and resource-depleting golf courses. And it’s really difficult to give him credit when he talks about how great it is for business.
Still, he was going to build anyway, and he didn’t have to preserve the eagles’ home.
What do you think?
I know nothing of the circumstances surrounding this particular collision during the Idiotrod, but in my experience, snowmobiles and dogs don’t mix well.
As I’ve said before on this blog, I’ve backcountry skied many times with dogs (only for the dogs’ sake; at best, dogs are a neutral presence while skiing, at worst, they get in the way sometimes). I’ve always avoided areas of moderate-to-heavy snowmobile use for dog-safety reasons. On the rare occasion that I ski in areas of very light snowmobile use, I listen for snowmobiles in the distance and grab and tether the dogs off to the far side of a trail until after the “sleds” pass. Most snowmobilers are courteous and slow down when they see you, especially in areas of light use, but often they can come fast around curves in road cuts or around trees and cannot see you until the last minute. If your dogs are loose when motor sleds are running fast, you’re asking for an accident to happen.
Based on my experience (and to state the obvious), the death was likely due to carelessness of both the dog’s guardian and the snowmobiler. A white-out (blizzard conditions) would make the accident slightly more understandable, but if there was a white-out, the snowmobiler should have been going VERY slow and the dog’s guardian should have had the dogs close together with a strong strobe light to mark a caution area. Alas, I doubt Idiotrod participants are that careful with their “disposable property/things.”
To a musher, it is just another dog. Notice how mushers and greyhound exploiters never publicize the dogs they murder because they are of no use. They would be abolished/shut down if the public knew what really goes on to develope the best runners. Yes, 'Zaster' was killed because he was being exploited. Mushers, as Terry would say, "gamble with the lives of sled dogs".
Also, yes, it is wonderful when anyone refrains from destroying wildlife habitat. Perhaps this developer will set a desperately needed practice (even if it was for selfish reasons). It was good for the eagles 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Mary.