Iditarod musher penalized for improperly gutting moose after killing animal when it attacked dogs

Legendary musher Dallas Seavey needed to kill a moose when the animal attacked his dogs during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but it ended up costing him some time during the event.

Seavey was penalized for failing to properly gut the moose he killed, officials announced Wednesday.

Race marshal William Palfrey’s three-person panel of officials investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of the moose. If a musher kills an animal on the trail, like a moose or caribou, in self-defense or property during the race, the musher is required to guy the animal and report it to officials at the next checkpoint.

The panel determined that Seavey spent about 10 minutes at the kill site and then mushed his dogs about 11 miles before camping out on a three-hour layover. He left the camp site at 5:55 a.m. local time and arrived at the next checkpoint at 8 a.m., when Seavey reported the kill.

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“It fell on my sled; it was sprawled on the trail,” Seavey told Iditarod Insider TV at the checkpoint. “I gutted it the best I could, but it was ugly.”

Seavey implored race officials to get the moose off the trail during his interview. Race officials, though, determined “the animal was not sufficiently gutted by the musher.” Officials said Seavey was required to get out the intestines and other internal organs. The moose was later retrieved and the animal’s meat was salvaged and processed.

Officials said a two-hour penalty would be added to Seavey’s mandatory 24-hour layover.

Seavey was leading the Iditarod race on Wednesday. He was the first musher to leave the checkpoint in the town of Ophir after only staying for about 15 minutes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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