Officials investigate kennel of Alaska Iditarod champ mired in doping scandal

Alaska investigators say no evidence ofanimal cruelty was found after an animal rights group complainedabout a kennel operated by four-time Iditarod champion DallasSeavey, who was recently accused in a dog-doping scandal.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough said the investigation wasconducted Saturday on the kennel, which is in Willow. Alaska StateTroopers also are separately investigating complaints against akennel, but they won't identify the musher.

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The borough said in a release that it investigated afterreceiving complaints from an individual and People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. PETA had asked for investigations by theborough and troopers based on a whistleblower's reports of sick, injured or dead dogs at the Willow kennel, as well as a property in Talkeetna believed to be where some Seavey dogs are taken.

PETA also released photos of dogs with neck wounds, chained dogs and an alleged puppy burial site, as well as videos it says were captured at the Willow property.

PETA said a whistleblower alleges the kennel operators allowedsick and severely injured dogs to suffer without veterinary care, and that handlers picked up dogs by the throat and threw them to punish them for disobeying commands or fighting. PETA also says alitter of seven newborn puppies recently died, and that a puppy was
buried at the property.

But borough Mayor Vern Halter, a former Iditarod competitor, saidin a borough statement released Wednesday evening that Seavey'skennel provides "a high standard of care" that includesacupuncture and canine massage.

"This complaint is absolutely false," Halter wrote.

In response, PETA spokesman David Perle said in an email to TheAssociated Press, "It's appalling and yet, also telling, that Mat-Su Mayor Vern Halter, a musher himself, considers cruel conditions such as chaining dozens of dogs to plastic barrels to be a 'high standard of care,' not to mention the specific cruelties purported, such as dogs with gaping wounds and bloody diarrhea and sick and dying dogs denied veterinary care, as shown in the evidenceprovided."

Halter and Seavey didn't immediately return messages Thursday.

No sign of mistreatment

Borough Animal Care officer Nick Uphus, however, said heinterviewed the individual who filed the complaint and he visitedthe kennel, where he interviewed Seavey's wife, Jen Seavey, andinspected all 89 dogs at the site, and found no sign of mistreatmentor neglect. Dallas Seavey was not at the site and was notinterviewed, according to Uphus, who added that previous mushingkennel licensing inspections also have not turned up any cause forconcern.

"It's a pretty nice facility," he said. He added he alsoinspected the Talkeetna property, where a handful of other dogs are
kept, saying he found nothing amiss there either.

Uphus said he gave advance notice of his visit, and he spentabout three hours at the properties.

PETA officials said Thursday they are submitting a public recordsrequest to the borough to gauge what was covered in the investigation. The borough north of Anchorage is home to numerous competitive and recreational mushers. Iditarod headquarters are in the borough town of Wasilla.

The unidentified female whistleblower worked at the kennel as adog handler between Sept. 5 and Oct. 27, the day she filed anaffidavit with PETA, Perle said.

Iditarod officials recently said four of Seavey's dogs testedpositive for a banned substance after his second-place finish in the nearly 1,600-kilometre last March. Seavey denies the allegations.