Original subtitles

It Is one of the biggest deals in iditarod. Here's the

85 mushers and their teams are entered into this years

Last Great Race.

-There's more people that have climbed Mount Everest than,

than have finished the Iditarod.

-The Iditarod is, the appeal is it's the last great race on earth and it,

and there's so many wonderful aspects to it.

-The romance of running a 1,000 miles with a dog team,

sleeping out under the stars with your dogs,

it's part of the history of Alaska.

Well, it's so exciting for one thing.

Everybody watches it on TV and thinks it's the greatest thing in the world,

I wished I could do that.

And they do it for the fame, they do it for the money.

ANNOUNCER: The world is watching Iditarod 44 on Iditarod.com.

We welcome you all to the 49th state.

It's the combination of people,

and of course the dogs,

and then the beauty of the land.

There aren't many places left in the world

where you can see the terrain and the geography,

the typography that Alaska presents,

and that's a strong appeal as well.

So, many reasons, but of course the,

the dogs are the focus of it all.

Everybody likes dogs.

-Those dogs that win the Iditarod are the dogs that will

win the Super Bowl if they were people.

These are some exceptional animals, just unreal animals.

It's something they're born, bred, and desired to do,

and it's a privilege for me to be on the back to watch

them do the things that they're naturally good at.

-I learned about sled dogs when I was in elementary school,

and I thought it was amazing.

But, you know, I never thought, like, oh,

"I could actually do that."

I just have always enjoyed outdoor endeavours and I

couldn't think of anything more ultimate as an outdoor endeavour than the Iditarod.

I just wanna see if I can do it, personally.

[Dog pack barking]

-Being an outdoorsman, I've always wanted to come to Alaska.

I just really enjoy the lifestyle.

I love running dogs, I love taking care of dogs.

I like the training aspect of dogs.

Um, I love seeing those young dogs transition through the season.

-You like the snow, it's your first snow.

Future champions.

-Most mushers, that's one of the biggest things,

the bond between you and your dogs.

PATRICK: Good boys.

I love being with those dogs out on the trail.

-Get up there, let's go!

Go!

I want my team to be like a machine,

a well-oiled machine, very well trained.

I wanna give these guys exactly what they need

and I want them to be happy and successful.

This morning, I started around four.

Feed my dogs, scoop my dogs,

and then we can start bootying and harnessing them, and...

The truck is a great training tool

to train a lot of dogs at once.

-Get ready.

All righty, everybody hop in their vehicles.

Titan, hey!

Yeah, right now they're just pulling the truck

at the speed we need to go.

-They are superb athletes.

They're better than any other athlete in the world

in their ability to do, um, endurance performance.

The ability to sustain 1,000-mile run is...

uh, of course they have to have the conditioning to do that.

Today's run is gonna be like a day on the Iditarod trail.

So I'm gonna do a 40 mile run, a 6 hour break,

and then another 40 mile run.

It's just great simulation training is what we're doing.

-You think of Alaska, you think of dog teams.

When I first got up here, I used to think,

"How in the world are they controlling those dogs?"

and I just really wanted to find out about it.

Handlers do everything. I mean, everything.

That includes driving the musher's dogs and everything,

the good dogs.

You do everything.

And I have driven some of the best in the world.

But it's so exciting, it is really exciting.

It's the most fun thing I ever did.

But it's...

there's a price for it.

GENE: I love my dogs very, very much but you need to be boss.

Now, a dog is not the boss, you are the boss.

Lydia!

-Today we took the young pups.

They're about six months old, we took them out of their pens,

and we moved them down to the puppy yard.

-This goes on your neck.

And I'll get down on the floor.

-When they're six months old I think they're old enough to go out.

Sometimes, people put them out at three months because

that's when they start to figure out

who's gonna be the boss of the pack,

but their necks are so tiny it's hard to get a collar small enough

and I always feel that the chains are just too heavy.

So I wait 'til their six months

and then they're ready to go.

-Okay. Come on, baby. Come on, baby.

-And, um, I think they are.

-That collar wasn't tight enough.

Come on, come out here, where I can reach you better.

[Dog yelps]

Come out here, where I can reach you better.

Come on!

Come on, baby, there we go.

There, okay?

We'll do this again.

Look at that, you've got such a tiny neck.

[Dog yelps]

There we go.

[Yelping continues]

Okay.

Come on, come on, baby.

Come on, baby.

Come on, baby.

Come on, you can do this, come on.

-The first one was Lydia and she is very shy.

She just has a shy personality so I had to really encourage her

because she was totally afraid, scared stiff.

She didn't wanna go down to the yard.

Playmates... come on.

Come on, Lydia. That's a girl.

Good girl, come on, Lydia.

Come on, Lydia.

-Lydia wasn't with another dog in her pen

because I took her brother out.

And so part of it is they're used to being together.

It's just like when people

take six-week old puppies away from their friends

and sell them off.

I wait 'til they're six-months.

It's the same type of thing-

"I want my sister, I want my brother."

Come on, Lydia.

-There is a bit of distress there,

but I keep an eye on them

to make sure it doesn't get really bad.

If they start slobbering or something like that,

then you know that they're really upset.

-Pretty soon, you'll be running.

Come on.

-They're just letting the world know that they're not happy.

And this is Kia, this is Kia.

[Dogs yelling]

This is Kia.

[Growling]

Ah-ah-ah, Kia!

[Dogs yellping]

Kia!

-When they go down there they're very excited.

Jeepers creepers.

See?!

We're good.

To be a dog trainer who runs in the woods

with his dogs all day long,

it's the perfect job.

-Being a musher, um,

it's just one of the greatest joys I've ever had.

-The dogs at Krabloonik are very near and dear to our community,

and to many of our guests who come from all over the world.

And the experience as Krabloonik begins to

exemplify what this town stands for.

-The dog sledding companies have done a very good job,

especially in our local case, of convincing the tourists,

the travelling public, that these dogs live great lives,

that they love what they do, they love pulling the sleds,

and that it's a great athletic endeavour for them,

and that these dogs aren't like regular dogs.

They're super athletes,

and they have to be treated differently from regular dogs.

And they have no idea what is going in these outdoor warehouses

where they are keeping these dogs.

-The end of the season was when things started to become more real to me.

You know how hot it is here in the summer?

It's brutal.

It looks like a concentration camp when you come

and visit it in the summer times.

And it's just bleak.

There's gravel everywhere, dogs are under their kennels

where there's a little bit of shade,

where they can stay cool.

Their necks get worn down so you can see their raw-

their raw skin through their fur, and their noses get worn raw.

They start eating their houses 'cause they get so bored,

they eat their water cans they get so bored.

Yeah, it gets pretty brutal.

My first year, we had 23 dogs that we put on what we called "death row."

The old dogs that were gonna be

euthanised after the mushers left.

All the dogs that couldn't run, they used to be shot.

-Dan's way of discipline, I just... I don't agree with.

His way of care, I don't agree with.

Once, I pulled into the kennel,

and my lead dog attacked a puppy in front of the guests.

Well, once the guests left the yard, Dan came over,

he picked up the puppy,

and he set it in front of the dog that attacked it,

and it attacked it again.

And he started hitting it with a chain,

and he hit it with a chain until it dropped the puppy.

Violent determination by the dog to be beaten so brutally,

twice, with a chain.

And the third time, it still attacked the puppy.

The dog obviously doesn't understand this form of discipline.

It was terrible.

It was nothing short of blood lust.

It was murder.

I approached the police.

There was just zero response.

I called PACFA.

The four complaints that I wrote,

I still have not received any response.

All the dogs that have been abused here at Krabloonik,

like, PACFA hasn't stepped in any of that.

So, to even think that they're even on board to do anything

meaningful is just pretty laughing matter to me.

-My name is Patrick.

My quest is to seek the Holy Grail.

It's pretty interesting.

It's not something I'm used to, signing autographs.

ATTENDEE: How many times have you run this?

PATRICK: It's my rookie season.

ATTENDEE: All right!

-Mostly, what I enjoy is talking with people about my passion.

They're all 2-year olds,

so we're just going out to just chill.

I'm gonna probably be like this most of the time.

ATTENDEE: Get your tan on?

PATRICK: Yeah, just enjoying it.

I definitely have some butterflies.

I know once my dogs start getting hooked up

and we're heading over to the actual starting line,

uh, my belly will definitely be light.

The men and women who've won this thing are some of

the toughest people on the planet.

As a rookie you don't understand,

you don't know all the things about the trail that everybody talks about.

They talk about the steps, you know,

they're dangerous, they're terrible, the ice holes.

They talk about it all but until you get there and do it for yourself,

you have no idea what it's gonna be like.

ANNOUNCER 1: Five, four, three, two, one, go!

ANNOUNCER 2: There goes bib number 53, Patrick Beall from Oklahoma.

This is his Iditarod rookie year.

PATRICK: Not to say Iditarod is going to be easy.

It's gonna be a major, major challenge,

but the dogs that I have, they're amazing.

They make me look ten times better than I am.

We're going a 1000 plus miles across Alaska.

We're gonna go across mountains, we're gonna go down mountains,

we're gonna pop into valleys and across rivers.

We're gonna get on the coast and go across sea ice.

All the way up to Nome.

It's a beautiful place to visit, it's a beautiful place to be,

but it's hard to believe the horrible things that have happened here.

It's just so hard going back to kind of the scene of the crime.

I thought I could come back here,

and it would be okay because it's over, but it's not okay.

It's...

it's just...

It was just all so wrong.

TV REPORTER: Canadian authorities are investigating a Whistler sled dog operation

for allegedly slaughtering up to 100 dogs after the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Documents revealed that company sales dropped off after the Vancouver Games.

Due to the decline in business,

the company allegedly ordered the killing of its sled dogs.

Robert Fawcett is the former director of the Howling Dog Sled Dog Company.

No one answered the door of his home in Pemberton.

Nobody forced him to slit those dogs throats,

shoot them multiple times, create a mass grave.

TV REPORTER: He also had to perform 'execution style' killings

where he wrestled the dogs to the ground

and stood on them with one foot to shoot them.

The last few kills were 'multiple shot' killings

as he was simply unable to get a clean shot.

-My god, he should get the maximum.

There's no doubt about it.

PROTESTOR: Rot in hell, Bob Fawcett! Rot in hell!

It appears officials have already determined the

location of that mass grave though they may have to wait

until spring when the snow is thawed before they can start digging.

-The Whistler thing,

I think was the first real eye opener for people

about what happens behind the scenes at dog operations.

100 dogs being killed at Whistler is a horrible thing,

but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In Canadian law,

animals are still treated as property,

and that's the same in most countries in the world,

including the United States.

So, almost across the board, animals are considered

no more valuable than a piece of furniture.

Sled dog companies are businesses.

They're there to make a profit,

they're not there for the welfare of the dogs.

And even with the best of intentions,

when a business is in trouble,

what matters is the bottom line.

There are still remnants of what happened here.

Oh my god, this is one of the things they had on the back of the trucks

that they used to transport the dogs in.

They're so tiny.

You can see here, you can pull one of these off.

They used to put 2 or 3 dogs inside of these things,

and in the early days they lived in these.

This is where they lived.

Their whole lives,

they'd only get out to eat and use the bathroom.

I mean, there was no...

It's horrible how these animals lived and...

that we would even think that this is close to acceptable.

For them to have to live their lives in these boxes

so that they can run for us.

PATRICK: When I'm out there it's just me and the dogs.

We're travelling, we're eating, we're sleeping,

we're travelling, we're eating, we're sleeping.

So just like a wolf pack will be travelling across the Alaska tundra,

we're doing the same things.

I got lost.

I just took a wrong turn.

So, I did about an extra 45 mile run.

It's a rough trail.

You are beat up, you're bruised up,

you're thrown in the trees and off the sled.

And you think of the dogs as being athletes.

They've gone through so much stress that they

physically and mentally change.

-So we're in McGrath, which is mile 340 of the race.

I have a few sore dogs, that's probably nothing we can't fix.

The dog, Shamu, came up with a pretty sore wrist

and I wasn't gonna take that dog down the gorge,

up Brandi Pass and down the gorge.

One, I just wouldn't wanna do that to a poor dog.

It's just not fair to him.

Yeah, she's got a little bit of a sore shoulder.

I'm gonna massage it and put some heat on it with a hand warmer.

She says, "I'm trying to sleep, dude. I'm trying to sleep."

Uh, this is like a steroidal cream.

Sometimes their feet swell up a little bit from just the over and over impact.

This helps reduce that inflammation.

They're definitely my buddies.

We have an understanding with one another.

I'm gonna do this for them, they do this for me,

it's a very nice, symbiotic relationship.

I'm gonna feed them as much as they'll possibly eat,

take care of them, massage their sore muscles,

and hook them up to go do what they love to do with their buddies.

And, at the end of the run they'll pull me there

and it's just kind of a neat relationship to have.

Now, what I'm going to do today is I'm going to use this weight,

and this puppy harness,

and I'm going to put the puppy harness on one of the puppies,

and see if they'll pull the weight around.

I wanna see if they're ready.

Hey, Moose. Hey, Moose!

Hey, Moose!

Good boy.

He'll probably give me a good run.

Right there.

[Dogs whine]

Alright.

Yeah, you're gonna give me a good run, aren't ya?

Although, he's never really left the yard when he's been loose, so...

Come on. [Laughs]

Come on, Lobo!

Yeah, come on! Come on!

You can do this, come on.

Oh, Lobo!

Come on.

Come on.

Come on, Lobo.

Come on, come out from your friends.

Come out from your friends.

Come on.

It's just- it's just a rope.

Come on! Come on!

Look at, look at.

You need help?

Come on, Lacey.

Come on, Lacey.

You're having too much fun rolling in this snow.

You wanna make a snow dog, eh?

[Laughs]

Come on, Lydia, you can do it.

Come on, Lydia.

Oh!

Come on. Come on, Lydia.

Come on, baby. Come on, Lydia.

That's it, show Moose.

You know what you're doin'.

Crawling on your belly, that's not the way a sled dog runs. [Laughs]

Come on!

You're doin' good.

Come on, Lacey.

Come on, sweet heart.

I had moved to Aspen in 1990 and there was always

newspaper articles about Krabloonik.

I love dogs and I thought if anything is ever gonna get done there,

get to the bottom of what's going on,

it's gonna take an organised effort.

I met Lee Ann Vold,

and the two of us together decided to form "Voices,"

and really start digging in and doing some research.

TV ANNOUNCER: You're ready, go ahead.

Hi, I'm Bill Fabrocini.

Hi, I'm Lee Ann Vold.

And we're here in Snowmass, Colorado.

At the time there were close to 300 dogs,

row after row.

-How could we walk on this big property with 300 dogs at a time chained up,

and no one was kicking us off the property?

There is this many dogs here and no one is coming to check on them,

there's no one here.

This is a storage facility.

These dogs are just here to be stored until they can make money.

-We hold not only the owner of Krabloonik,

Dan MacEachen,

responsible for the current standard of care for the dogs,

but also our town government, and town council

that has provided Dan with a 20-year lease

in which Dan paid a mere $200 for the entirety

of a 20-year period.

That breaks down to 83 cents a month.

We need this council first to say, "We hear it, we care,"

and that's what we'd like to hear tonight from you -

that you actually care about these dogs.

'Cause if you don't care about those dogs,

we're wasting our time here.

We urge you, as stewards of the community,

to take a strong position,

and mandate that the Krabloonik dogs' living conditions

are improved without further delay.

-How many dogs have I seen die from kidney failure

from eating stones, from chewing their houses apart?

-The Snowmass Village residents,

town council, police department-

that whole town up there runs as a good old boy network.

So you have a business owner who's operating on free land,

given to him by his buddy, the mayor on the town council,

protected by the police department,

and no oversight.

-Tonight, I'm not taking any discussion for this item.

Sorry.

We're all showing up tonight,

do you think this is fair as the mayor of a town?

BILL BOINEAU: Yes.

-We don't.

GUY: And everybody's in agreement with that?

COUNCIL MEMBER: Yes- No.

I don't think they are in agreement but it's not their choice.

It's my choice.

I'm willing to take the heat for cutting this off but this is...

-We're not trying to give you any heat,

I'm trying to understand the process-

BILL BOINEAU: Guy, we are done, I'm not going any further with this tonight.

You need to sit down, or leave,

we need to move on with our agenda.

GUY: And if I don't sit down, are you going to have me removed?

-I might have to.

You need to leave, Guy.

GUY: Okay.

LEIGH: Good night, and shame on you.

-Town council meetings are very difficult for all of us.

There was always one or two people on the council who were sympathetic,

who wanted change.

They were overruled by the majority.

They saw it as a business, economic vitality,

but did they really consider the welfare of the sled dogs?

-My name is Dan MacEachen,

There certainly seem to be a lot of allegations being made here today.

I did not come prepared to answer all these questions

that Lee Ann has brought up.

Everything I do, all the work I do is, is for the dogs.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY: (inaudible)

MAYOR: Ladies and gentlemen, I will not permit comments.

-I will remind everybody that I'm not doing anything illegal.

There's no violations in terms of legality.

They're not even living beings according to the law,

they're property.

That's always been the terrible thing about the care of sled dogs,

so to speak, is that you can keep a dog chained.

And it says as long as it's six feet long, has the minimal standard of shelter,

you can chain them their whole life 'til death,

and that's legal.

[Dogs barking]

-When they're chained and tethered

they never get the opportunity

to play with other dogs,

or explore their environment,

which is part of their natural instinct.

They need to be able to socialise,

being able to form a family unit, like a pack.

When that's taken away from them,

they go from being happy and playful and healthy,

to being anxious, nervous, panicked,

depressed, and insane sometimes.

When they're tethered they may be living amongst other dogs,

but it isn't a community.

It's not a community if they can't actually engage with one another,

and interact with one another, and form strong social bonds.

That's not a community, it's a prison.

What we needed was corroborating evidence.

If we were gonna prove this case,

we needed to be able to basically find dogs,

then do the forensic science that would corroborate

the fact that not only were they shot -

'cause we gotta keep in mind that's not illegal -

that they suffered prior to.

We brought in experts from all over who were experts in,

to be honest, human crimes.

So, human mass burials

because the forensics involved in this case

mirrored mass graves.

And I just commend the people- uh, talking about it-

[Getting emotional] I commend the constables, who worked on that because they're-

they don't know what they're gonna find.

[Shutter clicks]

I know for everybody involved that day,

it was quite a moment when the first bag and body was uncovered.

I was on the outside of a fence, just right over there,

and looking down into this pit,

and you could smell it first.

It was...

You kinda knew that morning as the,

the smell started to come out.

You know, that's the smell of death.

Bob Fawcett goes into great detail about a few of the dogs,

and Nora was one of them.

And he indicates how he missed the shot with Nora,

and he blew off part of her head.

And so there was an eye, uh,

hanging out and Nora was running around.

And so when our constables found Nora, um,

which is, you know, in, um,

incredible that she was a bit preserved in one sense,

um, being able to then identify this is exactly what happened.

SCIENTIST 1: It looks like we've got some blunt force trauma to the head.

SCIENTIST 2: So we have 11 puppies from Site D

that we're trying to determine cause of death.

We actually found bruising along the ribs here,

and also similar bruising on the skin at the exact same level.

So what this tells us

was this dog was originally stepped on in the thorax area,

and the chest and abdomen crushed.

And then the head was crushed.

-This was a place where terrible, horrible things happened.

Right here.

This is where they were shot, this is where they...

this is...

This is where they died horrible deaths.

It's so sad to look at it now and it looks so normal,

like it never happened and that's what scares me.

I think if there was any white lining in any of this it was like,

maybe now it'll stop.

You're thinking, "Oh my god,

oh my god, how horrible is this but maybe now it'll stop."

-It was a terrible black eye for British Columbia.

NEWS REPORTER: Premiere Christy Clark made the announcement

exactly one year after 100 sled dogs were slaughtered

by an operator near Whistler,

and two months after a provincial task force

launched its investigation.

As a veterinarian,

I can tell you that I'm, uh, extremely proud of the work

of this group and, uh,

and this group wanted to make animal welfare

and animal care,

uh, something that BC can be proud of.

NEWS REPORTER: The province now promising immediate action

on 10 recommendations to ensure such a cull

never happens again.

The toughest penalties in the country,

the highest fines, the longest, potential prison sentences,

I think that that's a big change.

-Here was a government sponsored task force

advising how to shoot a dog after this incident about dogs being shot.

The problem is that because they're created this myth that sled dogs are different,

and the government in BC has gone along with this,

that it's okay and legal to shoot your surplus sled dogs.

The only problem Mr. Fawcett had was

that the way he killed the dogs

involved some suffering to those animals

because he did it incompetently

that's why he was prosecuted.

But if someone did a neater, cleaner job,

they would get away with killing all those dogs.

What we called for was a complete ban

and the government just wasn't gonna go there

and we realised that fairly quickly from some of the statements they made.

And the reason for that, from our point of view,

is that they knew that there were sled dog operations throughout the province

that were part of the business community,

that there was money to be made,

that the government supported business,

and that they were going to side with that industry.

PATRICK: Hi Malaki.

MALACKI: Rookie checker.

-Rookie checker? I'm a rookie musher.

-53.

-I've got 11.

So, I dropped Dingo at the first check point.

He was just extremely sick.

Really, really bad diarrhea.

And then at Finger Lake,

I dropped Trighton who was kinda throwing up a lot,

and really, really dehydrated.

I think at one point I dropped three dogs at three or four checkpoints,

so it was kind of freaking me out.

With this group of dogs,

I'm noticing everything that's going on in their lives.

And, you know,

I have to make a choice on what to do

depending on what is happening.

-When they become physically incapable of going,

they will not go.

So, at a checkpoint, you drop the dog.

On the trail, you load the dog up and you carry it to the checkpoint.

We have a number of parameters that we use

to evaluate these dogs,

and I have a trail veterinary staff

of approximately 45 on any given year.

And their role is to specifically examine every dog

as necessary to determine their well-being.

Usually about a third of the dogs might be dropped.

When you get out there, the dogs change,

their personalities change, their characteristics change.

The dogs get a lot of miles on them

but they don't have all those miles in such a short amount of time.

It's kinda like somebody running and marathon,

and tomorrow we're gonna go run another marathon.

And now somebody asks you to run ten in a row.

That's what these guys are doing.

-The truth about the sled dogs and how they live

is somewhat obscured

because all that most people see

are the tip of a very dirty and cruel iceberg,

which is the race itself.

And in fact, most of those people only see the start and the finish,

they don't even see the 1,000 miles in between.

The basis of the Iditarod, the famous Serum Run,

where they use sled dogs to take a serum all the way to Nome Alaska,

is a pretty amazing feat.

What people don't realise is that it was done out of necessity,

and it was never done with one team of dogs,

that ran the thousands of miles all the way to Nome.

It was done in relays.

So, what they've created around that very fascinating,

magnificent piece of history is they're now forcing dogs

to do something that people in the past

would never have asked dogs to do,

that people would have realised would be abusive to dogs.

And now they're marketing it as a recreation of that event,

and it bears no resemblance to the event.

It's a big money sporting event now.

That's what it is.

The other thing they've done successfully is to create

a mystique around sled dogs,

that because they're uniquely hardy, because they,

they're tough and they can withstand cold,

that they're somehow different in terms of their

needs compared to other dogs.

The image, the thing that people see,

the start of the Iditarod is all very carefully managed.

And the bad stuff; the cullings,

the dogs that are kept out on these,

these short chains for the vast majority of their lives,

is all happening out in the middle of nowhere.

It's happening out of sight,

out of mind.

They compare their dogs to human super athletes,

but human athletes get to decide when to train,

how much to train,

when is it being destructive to their bodies.

And they give informed consent,

of course dogs can't give informed consent.

[Wet footsteps]

[Chains rattling]

-Behind the scenes,

you get back there, you see some really horrible things.

You see some really sadistic people.

See, when you go to work like that

they'll give you about 20 dogs, young dogs.

If they don't have the black pads on their feet,

if they have white pads, they'll kill them when they're puppies

'cause they want them black pads 'cause they're tougher.

They have to have good feet to race.

And your job is to run them young dogs,

so then if you have one that's doing really good, you'll say,

"Hey, this dog's doing pretty good,

you need to take him out."

Or if you have a dog that's just not gonna do it,

you say, "Well, you know, that one's not gonna make it."

That'll be his last day right there.

INTERVIEWER: What do you mean by that?

They'll shoot him right there.

STEPHEN: I find it particularly offensive that the industry

is trying to characterise these dogs,

whether they call them an athlete or whatever,

it's really what they're saying is,

these dogs are designed to do what we want them to do,

that these are tools.

-If they were elite athletes that can handle the stress

of endurance racing,

why would they get bleeding stomach ulcers?

Why would their hormones be suppressed and their immune system ruined?

Why would their internal organs and their musculoskeletal system fail?

Why would orthopaedic injuries be the number one cause

for them having to be taken out of the race?

It's too much stress and strain for them to endure.

PATRICK: You guys just don't want the water, do you?

[Quitely] Wake up.

-The biggest thing that I was bummed out about was

I wanted my dogs to be eating better than they were

because all season, they were just monsters.

-Some of them wanna quit eating.

They're so tired, they don't wanna eat.

And you think the thing is falling all apart.

PATRICK: Crew?

PATRICK: Well, everyone's been sick, so....

I mean we're just, we're just starting to...

PATRICK: Yeah. And it's hot out here, so...

it's why I haven't put straw down yet.

He's performing really well.

The guy made me drop a dog like that

at the last check point,

similar, but he was aspirating,

he was throwing up a little bit,

so, I agreed to do that.

VET STAFF: As long as they aren't hurt.

PATRICK: What's his temperature?

PATRICK: Yeah. Yeah.

For how long he's been resting already?

Or like high in general.

PATRICK: Okay.

PATRICK: How far is the next run to...

PATRICK: It's a big run.

PATRICK: Yeah.

-Here you go.

-Oh yeah.

PATRICK: Thank you.

-I used to tell the dogs,

"Hey, you know, you have to do this.

And if you don't do it, they will kill you."

They're like tools. That's all they are is a tool.

You don't use a bad tool, you don't use a cheap camera.

You use the best camera you got.

If that was a cheap camera,

after the first deal you would throw it away.

A dog, you just take him out and shoot him.

-The momentum had been building for a while and the DA finally said,

"I'm taking this case."

And the DA decided to do an inspection,

a surprise inspection with the state,

and with independent vets who would observe the dogs,

and that's when they found eight dogs that were malnourished,

some needed vet care.

And Dan MacEachen was charged

with animal cruelty on eight counts.

It justified the years of our work,

of people saying that we didn't know what we were talking about.

We did know what we were talking about.

-We've been through a very

difficult few years with Krabloonik.

All of us in public office and our community,

we've seen a lot of press, both locally, nationally,

and internationally,

and I applaud you on the work you've done so far,

and we'll look forward for what your vision is.

-Krabloonik is an evolution right now,

and every single day, things are changing,

things are getting better for the dogs.

We developed the best practices, and submitted it to you guys,

based on our feelings and how we feel a kennel

should be operated and ran.

And we're happy that you guys agree with this.

As members of the town council,

you have the power to affect meaningful

and compassionate change for these dogs.

Anti-chaining laws are in effect in almost half of the states

in our country, and for a very good reason;

because chaining is exceedingly cruel.

You're probably aware that PACFA,

the regulating body that licenses sled dog operations in Colorado,

permits sled dog operators via a loop hole,

the option to tether sled dogs indefinitely-

-That's incorrect.

And the way PACFA works is that there is a tethering waiver,

not a loophole, that we applied for-

-And the loophole within the waiver,

is that dogs that don't run are not monitored.

What about the one-

GINA/DANNY: That's not true.

-One reason that we tried so hard to buy this company

is to preserve a tradition.

There's a tradition of man and dogs,

and the love of nature

and the outdoors,

and it's been going on for thousands of years.

If it wasn't humane we wouldn't do it.

-Okay, so, the biggest thing

I think we need to educate the public on

is that there are sled dogs and there are dogs.

LEIGH: The new owners worked for the former owners,

and did not speak up.

And I don't think they would make certain changes

if it weren't for public pressure.

QUESTION: Here in Snowmass, tethering,

continual chaining, is still legal.

Are you willing to take the backlash,

the kickback for that?

Well, I'm very willing to take the kickback.

I will take the kickback if we're talking dog sledding operations.

If it's just the pet in the house and tethering,

that's another whole issue to me.

To me that is animal cruelty.

-Each dog now, on average, is at least 6 hours,

if not more, a week that they're off tether.

Whatever works for them.

What works best for the dogs.

I think, some of them will be able to be off tether like this,

and some never will,

so, right now our expectation is do whatever is the best for them.

Well, you know...

-No, I don't...

You what I think?

That's part of the negative history.

That's not our history.

We don't have anything to say about Voices.

QUESTION: Would you be owning this place?

I don't think we need to talk about the Voices.

-You know, that's, uh,

that's just a whole bunch of drama

that I don't even wanna get involved with.

You know, it's 100 percent drama, all of it.

I don't have a problem with a business

that is trying to be profitable.

I believe everyone has a right to try to make money.

That's the million-dollar question

can there be a sled dog industry that is fair to the sled dog?

TV REPORTER: The kennels where the Whistler sled dogs once lived

is back in business.

Now owned and operated by a not-for-profit group

dedicated to the humane treatment

and well being of working dogs.

-As an animal welfare organisation,

I mean the first thing I said is,

"Those dogs are coming off the chains, like, now ."

The idea was to prove that it could be done,

and it could be done fiscally responsibly,

so that you could still make a profit and take care of dogs.

So, here we are.

We are the company that has the surviving sled dogs.

We are in Whistler.

We were front-page news all across the country,

and I thought, "nobody's coming."

I was like, "we gotta batten down the hatches,

we gotta think that dog sledding is on its way out,

particularly this season,

we're going to really struggle to survive."

Well, I was wrong.

We were full.

TV REPORTER: The dogs now belong to Whistler Sled Dog Company

but the new operation, which was formed to prove that

humane dog sledding can be profitable, wasn't.

-We failed.

I mean, we failed miserably.

And this is with thousands of volunteer hours,

and with being the number one booked dog sled operation in Whistler.

And we couldn't do it.

We had 189 dogs to take care of,

and we weren't providing the level of care,

and the level of life that we were comfortable with as animal welfare people.

Feeding the dogs, caring for the dogs,

margins are very small, and the season is short.

It didn't make any sense on a financial level, at all.

Based on what happened in Whistler,

we demonstrated that it's very challenging,

if not impossible, to run a humane,

ethical sled dog company, and still make a profit.

And unfortunately, the vast majority of sled dog operators

are making a profit at the cost of animal welfare.

-I'm in a position where it's very fair for me to say

that this industry is an abomination.

I question whether anyone can do commercial dog sledding ethically.

GENA: No, we have to work together with this, Moose.

This is a togetherness thing.

Yeah, this way, we put it on this way, yes...

One foot through here, one through here.

Yes, yes!

I know, you're full of vinegar aren't you, hey?

[Dogs barking]

Haga!

Look at him go, he's got it already!

We want you to go this way today

since we got a trainee on here, okay?

We're gonna go this way today.

This way.

Come one, over here.

I know, you wanna go that way, we're going this way.

[Dogs whine]

I know, it's deep.

We're gonna make a new path.

GINA VO: I respect them, and they respect me.

If they didn't respect me,

they would not do the job that they're supposed to do.

-Good boy, Moose!

GINA VO: They love running and, believe it or not,

they like being part of a team.

-That's a girl.

The thing you have to remember here is

that these dogs are bred for it.

They've been born into it.

His father is a sled dog, his mother is a sled dog,

his grandfather is a sled dog, and his grandmother is a sled dog.

So it's right in their, their make up.

It's instinctual, I think.

-Dogs are naturally quite fastidious creatures and,

if given the choice,

they will differentiate between sleeping areas,

eating areas, and elimination areas.

The problem with tethering is that they're unable to do that.

They're forced to have to eat, and sleep,

and eliminate in the same areas,

and it goes completely against

what their internal needs and their internal drives are telling them.

So, it's very stressful for them.

GENA: When you get a dog,

you're responsible for it, for its life.

Not just for a week, not just for a year.

You have taken it and you are responsible for the whole life of that dog.

And I try to give my dogs a good quality of life.

That's really important to me.

It's very important that my dogs are happy.

QUESTION: I think you've got a...

Jackie just said to me...

she thinks that one of the dogs is sick,

or dying, or something.

GENA: Oh! Which one?

QUESTION: I don't know.

GENA: Not today!

Oh! Oh!

No! No! Oh....

Yeah. Yeah, he's passed away.

In the night.

I have to get my sleigh.

Yeah, he's dead.

You know I, I lost his brother last year...

and I just hate losing a dog.

I just hate losing a dog.

Especially in the wintertime.

Oh, Ratchet...

Oh, Ratchet.

Poor old boy.

Poor old boy, hey?

Hey? Poor old boy.

I know.

Yes, Babe.

Yes, Babe,

it's Ratchet.

It's just so hard to take.

That's... dogs don't live long enough, you know.

They just don't live long enough.

We need another 20 years at least.

We need another 20 years.

That's a good boy.

He's a good boy.

[Sniffles]

Oh dear...

I'm never ready.

It doesn't matter.

I'm never ready.

[Dogs howling]

ANNOUNCER: Coming up Front Street, you can see the police escort

bringing in Patrick Beall to the finish line.

[Crowd cheering]

Being on a sled is just like nothing else I've ever done.

No matter what happens,

I'm gonna always have a love for this sport,

and a love for these types of dogs.

I would probably do it again, absolutely.

None of the dogs that I dropped from the race are done...

They're gonna be right back next year

in the training program and I'll see what they can do.

-I wanted Mike 'cause they had told me how much they had beat him,

and I got him when he was about 10 and I used him two years,

so he was about 12. And I told him, I said,

"When I leave," I said, "you're going with me."

It's hard for me to talk about him.

He had been totally broken, mind and spirit.

Just totally.

Just something about Mike.

He just seemed like he needed a friend.

DOUG: Wasn't it Ghandi that said,

"We are judged by the way we care for our animals"?

-If that's the case, we're in deep, deep, deep shit.

-We use these animals as entertainment,

and meanwhile this is the dirty, dark secret.

This is where they live, this is how they live.

They get slaughtered, they get...

There's companies that leave their dogs for days,

and someone just goes back and feeds them,

and it happens all the time and we pretend that,

that we've fixed this,

that it's all better now.

It's not fixed.

The Whistler massacre was years ago, and nothing's changed.

People, everybody was up in arms

and thought how horrible it was,

and we're gonna make this better

and this will never happen again.

It's still happens, it's still happening,

and it'll continue to happen until people say, "No more."

[Whistles]

-Lew!

What you doin', goof ball?

What you doin'? What you doin'?

What's up?

Come here.

-The verdict is in, I think there's been enough investigation,

there's been enough of what happened here, that as a society we need to say,

"Enough."

Because if we don't, then we're all complicit in this.

Because it can be stopped, and it should be stopped.

Okay.

Off you go.

What do you think, bud? Hmm?

You don't much care about this place anymore, do you?

DR. REBECCA LEDGER: The majority of the Whistler sled dogs

have been rehomed,

and have become wonderful pets.

We have an amazing community group,

people who know these dogs have suffered,

have stepped up to the plate

and have taken on these dogs,

and we've become our own little family.

Dogs have amazing resilience,

and these dogs bounced back really well.

-When they're given the opportunity to learn,

they get there eventually.

They may need a little bit more help than the average dog,

but they can get there.

PENNY: You guys are very patient, waiting very nicely.

We're handing them all treats,

right next to each other and they do amazing.

Nobody's fighting.

They're just domestic dogs,

and they need to have this kind of a life,

and, you know, be part of a family.

-There are so many options for people to run with their dogs,

ski with their dogs, even sled with their dogs.

-Good dogs!

-So I have all these guys

that I took eight years ago

from Krabloonik.

They got to come home

and live with me.

And I love that we ended up becoming this family.

-Come on, guys.

-Up, up!

-I don't love them just because they're incredible athletes,

they're my buddies.

These guys are awesome just as pets.

I mean, they play so many more roles other than sled dogs.

They emotionally become our best friend.

They don't talk back,

they're gonna do what you wanna do.

"You wanna sleep on the couch all day?

I'm gonna sleep with you."

"You wanna go hiking? I'm gonna hike with you."

"You're crying, I'm gonna snuggle up against you."

"If someone knocks on the door, I'm gonna protect you."

And they're just dogs, just pets. But it's cool.

It's a whole other aspect.

And they bathe me.

I actually don't shower.

[Seth and the dogs howl]

Come here, Surrie.

And Surrie was so shy and she was even shy with me,

but now, now we're best friends.

Good dogs!

She snuggles the most, she screams the most,

you know, when we're going sledding.

Even if these guys stopped pulling a sled today,

I'd still love them just the same.