In this March 7, 2015, file photo, musher Peter Kaiser, of Bethel, Alaska, leads his team past spectators during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in Anchorage, Alaska. PETA is the biggest critic of the world’s most famous sled dog race, but new Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach has started discussions with the animal rights group and plans a sit-down meeting with PETA, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rachel D’Oro, File)

In this March 7, 2015, file photo, musher Peter Kaiser, of Bethel, Alaska, leads his team past spectators during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in Anchorage, Alaska. PETA is the biggest critic of the world’s most famous sled dog race, but new Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach has started discussions with the animal rights group and plans a sit-down meeting with PETA, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rachel D’Oro, File)

Iditarod head, PETA leader to meet

‘I’m coming in with open ears and eyes, to have an objective conversation about animal welfare.’

  • By Rachel D’Oro Associated Press
  • Wednesday, October 16, 2019 10:47pm
  • News

ANCHORAGE — The new head of Alaska’s Iditarod plans to meet with a leader of an animal welfare group that’s devoted to ending the world’s most famous sled dog race, which it sees as a cruel, deadly event for its canine participants.

Organizers of the 1,000-mile wilderness trek have for decades ignored or taken a defensive stance against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach, who took the helm of the organization in July.

The old response hasn’t worked, Urbach said. He has started talking to PETA about dog care and will meet Thursday with the group’s executive vice president Tracy Reiman in Los Angeles.

“I’m coming in with open ears and eyes, to have an objective conversation about animal welfare,” Urbach said Tuesday. “If there’s something we can learn from their organization, I’m willing to listen.”

Reiman plans to talk about the differences between “the needs and behavior of dogs and those of humans,” she said in an email to The Associated Press.

She said it will be the third time she has talked with Urbach. The Thursday meeting will be the first in person, after Urbach asked to meet.

Reiman noted that as a former CEO of USA Triathlon, Urbach knows endurance sports but not when applied to dogs.

“You can’t extrapolate from human experiences in endurance racing and apply the result to dogs who are driven past their limits,” she said.

The Thursday summit, as Urbach calls it, comes after a difficult time for the Iditarod that was marked in recent years by escalating pressure from animal activists over multiple dog deaths, a 2017 dog-doping scandal and the loss of big-name sponsors.

Urbach said the Iditarod and PETA both care about animal welfare, and he hopes the two can find common ground through education about the race and treatment of the dogs.

However, he said PETA has long spread “grossly inaccurate and inflammatory” information about the Iditarod, saying it ruins dogs that don’t die on the trail; dogs are kept outdoors in freezing temperatures; and ones that can’t make the grade are killed.

Plenty of dogs have run the race multiple times with no harm, Urbach said, noting that Iditarod dogs are outdoor animals that train daily and are at their prime in sub-zero weather.

“There might have been some culling years ago, but that’s not part of the Iditarod’s culture going forward,” Urbach said.

Reiman said human athletes aren’t chained outside in freezing weather and they get proper nutrition and hydration. Her group has documented that Iditarod dogs are “fed rotten slop” and frozen water, she said.

“We’re not opposed to a thousand-mile race, but the true test of endurance is when humans do it under their own power — as some have — and leave dogs out of it,” she wrote.

By PETA’s count, more than 150 dogs have died in the race, including one this year. Five dogs connected with the 2017 race also died.

Race officials dispute the total number of deaths and say no records on the subject were kept in the Iditarod’s early years.


• By Rachel D’Oro, Associated Press


More in News

People carrying flags and signs line the Sterling Highway for a “No Kings” protest in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna ‘No Kings’ protest draws hundreds

The nationwide protest came the same day as a military parade organized at the behest of the Trump administration.

Council member Jordan Chilson speaks during a Soldotna City Council work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna council mulls change to meeting time

Meetings would be moved from 6 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. under a resolution set to be considered on June 25.

Mountain View Elementary School is photographed on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Mountain View vandalized by children, police say

Staff who arrived at the school on Monday found significant damage, according to police.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy compares Alaska to Mississippi data on poverty, per-pupil education spending, and the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress 4th grade reading scores during a press conference on Jan. 31, 2025. Alaska is highlighted in yellow, while Mississippi is in red. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Dunleavy vetoes education funding to $500 BSA increase

Per-student funding was increased by $700 in an education bill passed by the Alaska Legislature in May.

The entrance to the Kenai Peninsula Job Center is seen here in Kenai, Alaska on April 15, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion file)
Minimum wage increases to $13 per hour on July 1

Since 2014, Alaska’s minimum wage has increased from $7.75 to $11.91 through the Alaska Wage and Hour Act.

Leads for the Sterling Safety Corridor Improvements Project field questions and showcase their “preferred design” during an open house meeting at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Preferred design alternative for Sterling Highway safety corridor introduced at town hall

The project is intended to redesign and construct improvements to the highway to reduce the number of fatal and serious collisions.

Alaska State Troopers badge. File photo
Recovered remains confirmed to be missing Texas boaters; fourth set of remains found

Remains were recovered from the vessel sank that in Kachemak Bay last August.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a meeting of the KPBSD Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
KPBSD issues notice of non-retention to pool managers, theater techs and library aides

Those notices were issued due to the ongoing uncertainty in state education funding.

National Guard members put on hazmat suits before entering the simulation area on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Natalie Buttner / Juneau Empire)
National Guard begins exercise in Juneau simulating foreign terrorist attacks

Operation ORCA brings 100 personnel to Juneau, disrupts traffic around Capitol.

Most Read