Cause of 3 sled dogs’ deaths during 2024 Iditarod still undetermined, race committee says

Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 1 hour ago

The deaths of three sled dogs during the 2024 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have undergone further investigation, but a definitive cause of death for the dogs could not be identified, the Iditarod Trail Committee said Friday.

The three dogs — a 2-year-old named Bog, a 4-year-old named George and a 3-year-old named Henry — died during the course of the race in March. Necropsies were conducted for the dogs, all males, by board-certified veterinary pathologists, the committee said in a statement Friday afternoon. At the time, each dog was given an undetermined cause of death.

Since the race ended, further testing and review of the deaths had been conducted by veterinary specialists in toxicology, internal medicine and cardiology and pathology, the committee said.

“Despite this investigation, a definitive cause of death is not identified, and we cannot rule out the occurrence of a fatal cardiac arrhythmia in one or more of the dogs,” Iditarod veterinarian Erika Friedrich is quoted as saying in the committee’s statement.

Each dog was given physical exams, including blood tests and EKGs, to identify possible medical issues in the weeks leading up to the Iditarod, the race committee said. Those tests did not indicate any medical abnormalities, the committee said.

“Ultimately, the cause of a presumed arrhythmia is unknown and presumed idiopathic at this time. There are no known preventative measures that could have been taken,” Friedrich said in the committee’s statement.

Bog was a member of rookie Isaac Teaford’s team, George was on musher Hunter Keefe’s team and Henry was a member of rookie Calvin Daugherty’s team. All three mushers withdrew from the Iditarod when their dog died, in accordance with race rules.

In addition to the three dogs that died on the trail, five others died during training leading up to the event this year.

“The ITC will continue to provide world-class healthcare to all Iditarod dogs, as well as health care, checkups and vaccinations to dogs in the communities and villages along the Iditarod Trail,” the committee said in its statement.

The 2025 Iditarod is scheduled to begin with a ceremonial start March 1 in Anchorage followed by the restart — when racing officially begins — on March 2 in Willow.

This will be the first Iditarod in decades without the presence of head veterinarian Stu Nelson, who died in September in Idaho and had been involved with the event for 38 years. In his role, he was in charge of developing and overseeing protocols to ensure dog health in the thousand-mile race across Alaska.