Dammit

[Pippiroo]

This was just posted on KTUU today:

A sled dog was injured on an unspecified Iditarod team Tuesday night after a snowmachine rider collided with the team, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Troopers reported that the snowmachine hit the team around 7:30 p.m. between the Koyuk and Elim checkpoints. Trooper officials said the rider “fled the area” after the collision.
Investigators with the troopers said they have “identified a person of interest” after talking with the musher and getting the best description of the rider. The musher was not hurt, troopers said.

www.alaskasnewssource.com/2024/03/13/id ... ine-rider/

[Pippiroo]

Updated on the Iditarod website:
On March 12, 2024 at approximately 7:30 p.m. Race Officials were notified that a snow machine had made contact with Bailey Vitello’s team between the Koyuk and Elim checkpoints. The driver of the snowmachine fled the area; however, Troopers and VPSOs identified a person of interest based on the description of the snowmachine and information provided by the musher. The musher was not injured and while contact was made with one dog on Vitello’s team, the dog is uninjured and still running. The Alaska State Troopers investigation is active and ongoing.

Thank goodness no one was hurt!

[elsietee]

Gah, that's got to get your heart racing. How awful for him. Hopefully they'll catch the perpetrator.

He *just* left WM, two dogs fewer than he arrived with, so hopefully that was unrelated.

[elsietee]

From: https://alaskapublic.org/2024/03/13/sno ... opers-say/

A Facebook post from Vitello’s team describes the incident.

“When the team was running a straightaway stretch in broad daylight a snowmobile came down the trail recklessly driving and clipped one of the dogs on the team,” it says. “Bailey did everything in his power to try to gain the attention of the driver whom tried to continue down the trail after hitting said dog.”

The post said Vitello was able to confront the snowmachiner, get information about who they were and then contacted officials. It said the musher put the dog, named Oak, in his sled bag to transport it to the next checkpoint, where the veterinarians gave Oak “a clean bill of health.”

“We were the lucky ones on this day and many teams this year haven’t been so fortunate,” the post said.

...

Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said investigators on Wednesday were able to identify and track down the snowmachiner who hit Vitello’s team.

“Ultimately any criminal charges in this incident will be determined in coordination with our partners at the Alaska Department of Law as the misdemeanor occurred outside of the presence of a law enforcement officer,” he said in an email.

[fladogfan]

There's gotta be some sort of punishment for doing actions like that.

[mira]

It's like... I mean.. if it's dark, you can kind of imagine that it might be a bit hard to see (though.. I mean, head lamps and all sorts). But in daylight? When they must have known there were teams on the trail. It's really hard to understand how it can happen at all..

[Leaddog]

It's really hard to understand how it can happen at all..

In any garden, there are desirable plants and there are weeds, and if you want to have a nice garden, you will have to periodically pull the weeds.
Any particular group of people will be like a garden. The problem is that we're not doing a good job in pulling the weeds.

[tanglefoot]

Is that the 3rd 4th or 5th times that’s happened this year?