A 6-year-old dog named Hope in Kelly Griffin’s team died early Thursday morning, Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race officials announced Thursday afternoon. The dog death is the third in this year’s race.
The death occurred after Griffin left the Chena Hot Springs checkpoint 99 miles from the Fairbanks finish line at 1:50 a.m. Thursday.
“Apparently, 2 1/2 hours out of Chena Hot Springs, one of Kelly’s dogs dropped and by the time she got up there, it had expired,” race marshal Mike McCowan said Thursday afternoon from the Quest’s downtown finish area.
Griffin put the dog in her sled bag and notified officials upon reaching Pleasant Valley Store, at mile 23 of Chena Hot Springs Road, in Two Rivers, McCowan said. The dog was pronounced dead in Two Rivers, and a necropsy was begun by a Quest pathologist.
“They’re doing a necropsy on it right now and we don’t have the results yet,” McCowan said at around 3:30 p.m., adding that he hoped the preliminary cause of death would be announced sometime Thursday night.
Griffin reached the Nordale Bridge in 15th place at 4:50 p.m. Thursday and is expected at the finish line a few hours later. McCowan said he will interview her about the death once she finishes.
Russ Bybee of Willow came upon Griffin shortly after the incident.
“She was standing there,” said Bybee shortly after he placed 13th, from a vehicle parked in a staging area near the finish line. “She had already loaded it and taken care of it. She was just there with her dogs.”
Dog deaths hit hard in the tight-knit Yukon Quest community.
“It’s just heartbreaking. Everybody wants to see everybody cross the finish line. Everybody wants every dog to cross the finish line,” McCowan said. “When a dog dies, there’s no next year for that dog. There’s no tomorrow for that relationship. It’s just over. It’s just a real heartbreaker for everybody.”
Yuka Honda (Feb. 11) and Brent Sass (Feb. 18) also had dogs die during this Quest. The most recent deaths before this year were in 2002.
“There’s no pattern to any of these, whatsoever,” McCowan said.
Contact staff writer Matias Saari at 459-7591 or msaari@newsminer.com.
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