Iditarod musher forced to kill, gut moose that clashed with his dogs

A decorated musher had to kill a moose Monday during the Iditarod to defend himself and his dogs, race organizers said.

Five-time champion Dallas Seavey was then obliged by event rules to stay and gut the animal. That delayed his arrival at the Finger Lake checkpoint after departing from the Skwentna checkpoint, about 110 kilometres from Anchorage, where the famed race had its ceremonial start Saturday.

“I gutted it as best I could, but it was ugly,” Seavey, 37, told an Iditarod video team when he reached Finger Lake.

A statement from the Iditarod said the incident occurred just over 22 km outside Skwentna when the moose “became entangled with the dogs and the musher on the trail.”

Per the statement, Seavey “was forced to dispatch a moose in self-defence.”

According to a Facebook post by the team of fellow musher Wally Robinson, Seavey “did the only thing he could do and shot the moose.”

Seavey left Skwentna in second place, behind race leader Jessie Holmes, but he dropped to 13th after taking more than eight hours to reach Finger Lake.

Holmes said at the checkpoint that he “had to punch a moose in the nose out there,” and Robinson's team reported that it saw a moose kicking at Holmes's dogs.

The rules of the race state: “In the event that an edible big game animal, i.e., moose, caribou, buffalo, is killed in defence of life or property, the musher must gut the animal and report the incident to a race official at the next checkpoint. Following teams must help gut the animal when possible. No teams may pass until the animal has been gutted and the musher killing the animal has proceeded.”

Race organizers said that when Seavey arrived at Finger Lake at 8 a.m., Alaska State Troopers were “immediately notified.”

One of Seavey's dogs reportedly was flown to Anchorage for veterinary care.