It's wonderful that Erica and Julia Guerette collect books for children who live in small towns along the Iditarod race route. But they should know that the Iditarod is terribly cruel to dogs.

What happens to the dogs during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, broken bones, pneumonia, torn muscles and tendons, viral diseases, ruptured discs, sprains, anemia and lung damage.

On average, 53 percent of the dogs who start the Iditarod do not make it across the finish line. According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do finish, 81 percent have lung damage. The Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine reported that 61 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.

Working to help the mushers, veterinarians give the dogs massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running. The dogs are sometimes sick or injured before the Iditarod begins, but veterinarians allow them to race anyway. Dogs with diarrhea, viruses, coughs, and open sores on their foot pads have been allowed to start the Iditarod. In 2007, the veterinary staff gave its Humanitarian Award to Ed Iten, a musher who raced his dogs for four days even though all of them had diarrhea. In the 2008 Iditarod, Iten's dog Cargo died after the musher and his dogs spent two hours at the Elim checkpoint. Veterinarians are supposed to be at the checkpoints examining and caring for the dogs.

Dog beatings and whippings are common. During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain.

The Iditarod belongs in history's garbage can.

Margery Glickman

Sled Dog Action Coalition

Miami, Fla.