The death of Brent Sass’ dog Melville was caused by a piece of fabric or harness the 5-year-old ate, which led to a fatal tearing of his intestine, Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race officials announced Tuesday.
“Any dog can ingest a foreign body, like a ball or a sock. In Melville’s case, the object failed to pass through his digestive system and his death was caused by perforation of his intestine,” Quest head veterinarian Vern Starks said in a press release, adding that the object could have been ingested prior to or during the race.
The cause of death was determined by a necropsy performed by a Quest pathologist on Monday.
Sass, a Quest rookie and 2006 Quest 300 champion from Fairbanks, was about five miles from remote Slaven’s Cabin when Melville suddenly collapsed in harness, race marshal Mike McCowan said Tuesday near the Quest finish line in Fairbanks.
Sass then attempted, but failed, to resuscitate Melville and carried him to Slaven’s, where the veterinarian on duty pronounced him dead, McCowan said.
“The dog was dead, I think, probably when it hit the ground,” said McCowan, who spoke briefly with Sass by telephone in Circle City on Monday night.
The death, the second in this year’s Quest, was unavoidable, McCowan said.
“It was total bad luck. This is in no way, shape or form musher error,” McCowan said. “That dog could have died on the couch. It could have been a house pet.”
McCowan said it’s impossible to monitor dogs all the time, telling how a dog he once owned ate an entire harness except for the padded collar after he’d left it alone for three minutes.
“It lived to a ripe old age and I never found a piece of (the harness),” McCowan said. “Dogs have this real bizarre habit of eating weird things, and most of the time they poop those weird things out. This time it got hung up and ended up leading to death.”
Sass, who was in 13th place at the time of the accident, stayed at Slaven’s for 12 hours. He decided to continue the race and has dropped to 16th place among 21 remaining mushers. Sass departed Circle with eight dogs at 4:11 a.m. Tuesday, reaching Central, 169 trail miles from Fairbanks, at 7:12 p.m.
“He was really bummed out, but he wanted to finish the race and I said ‘Absolutely, finish this thing,’” McCowan said. “I don’t know how long it will take him to get here, but he’ll make it.”
Yuka Honda also had a dog die on Feb. 11.
That day, Sass was the musher who came upon Honda, who had lost her team near Braeburn. He picked Honda up and gave chase for 10 miles to catch her driverless team. The pair found Honda’s team stopped on the trail and discovered Jewel, a 5-year-old female, dead. A necropsy determined the dog had choked on its vomit.
The deaths are the first on the Quest since 2002.
Contact staff writer Matias Saari at msaari@newsminer.com or 459-7591.
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