The following letter was published today in the 'last bastion' for sled dog advocacy, the Yukon News in Whitehorse (who always seem to come through FOR THE DOGS when it is most important), to let them dogs have their say. The Yukon News (online) is available by free subscription at http://yukon-news.com.

The letter is from one of the Yukon's bravest voices for animals, Mike Grieco. Mike can be reached at info@yukonwolves.com

'Out in the Cold'

Musher Frank Turner was talking about his appearance in one episode of the new series Out in the Cold. He was appearing partly in order to get rid of ‘negative concepts’ some members of the public hold towards dog mushing.

In the interview, Turner compared the days of Jack London to the way sled dogs (‘athletes’) are treated now — he said the views “don’t reflect the current reality.” How stupid do you think some of us members of the public are?

Here are some of the reasons why some people don’t have much respect for dog mushers, especially Yukon Quest mushers.

Remember that just before the 2007 Yukon Quest, Turner raised the issue of competitors (not himself though) culling sled dogs as part of the process of developing competitive teams.

Remember that three dogs were killed in the 2007 Quest and a whole bunch more were injured or run past the point of exhaustion.

Have any other Quest dogs died (been killed) after the race? Or is this also a secret?

In September there was a story about Turner in the Yukon News that reported he owned 120 dogs and was breeding more. Then I look at the Out in the Cold website (and Turner’s own website) and see that Turner chains his dogs ‘out in the cold.’ Remember that I worked in Turner’s dog yard/gulag years ago (you can’t change this animal-rights activist).

Also, in February, the Yukon News reported that Turner “fought back tears” because of the suffering his dogs endured on the hard-packed Quest trail (it was like “running on pavement” for them). Now Turner is again planning to expose his dogs to the same punishment in the 2008 Quest?

I was not surprised to see Turner’s good friends at the Yukon government pumping some of my hard-earned tax dollars into this dog mushing propaganda show. (Will the Yukon tourist economy fall apart without the labours of sled dogs?)

Turner, the Discovery Channel (and show producer Tookie Mercredi) and Yukon Tourism can fool some people, but you sure as hell do not fool me.

Mike Grieco
Whitehorse