{"id":5921,"date":"2016-03-12T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/03\/12\/snowmobiler-kills-dog-competing-in-iditarod-attack-apparently-intentional\/"},"modified":"2016-03-12T18:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-12T18:04:00","slug":"snowmobiler-kills-dog-competing-in-iditarod-attack-apparently-intentional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/snowmobiler-kills-dog-competing-in-iditarod-attack-apparently-intentional\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmobiler Kills Dog Competing In Iditarod; Attack Apparently Intentional"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Camila Domonoske<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"Aliy<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Aliy Zirkle handles her dogs during a rest in Galena along the Yukon River, her last stop before heading towards Nulato. Late in the night, as she approached Nulato, Zirkle was attacked by a snowmobiler a few miles outside the small community. Zachariah Hughes\/Alaska Public Media<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Zachariah Hughes\/Alaska Public Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One dog has been killed and multiple dogs have been injured by a snowmobiler in what appears to be an intentional attack on competitors in the Iditarod Race in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Iditarod veteran Aliy Zirkle was the first to report an attack.<\/p>\n

A snowmachiner had “repeatedly attempted to harm her and her team,” the Iditarod Trail Committee says, and one of Zirkle’s dogs had received a non-life-threatening injury.<\/p>\n

Zirkle reported the attack when she arrived in Nulato, Alaska, in the wee hours of the morning, and race officials and law enforcement were notified.<\/p>\n

\n
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In what sounds like an intentional incident, a snowmachiner ran into Jeff King’s dogs outside Nulato, kill 3-yo Nash pic.twitter.com\/xG4eJpiMeR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zachariah Hughes (@ZachHughesAK) March 12, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Then Jeff King, a four-time Iditarod champion who was behind Zirkle, reported a similar encounter.<\/p>\n

King’s team was hit by a snowmobiler, injuring several dogs and killing one \u2014 Nash, a 3-year-old male.<\/p>\n

Reporter Emily Schwing tells our Newscast unit that King’s sled has lights and reflectors.<\/p>\n

“It really felt like reckless bravado and playing chicken,” King told Emily.<\/p>\n

Zachariah Hughes, a reporter for Alaska Public Media, says that<\/a> neither King nor Zirkle were injured, according to state troopers.<\/p>\n

A suspect has been identified, race officials say, and an investigation has begun.<\/p>\n

“Regrettably, this incident very much alters the race of the two mushers competing for a win,” the Trail Committee writes. “However, both are going to continue on their way toward Nome.”<\/p>\n

After a four-hour rest, Zirkle left Nulato<\/a> \u2014 leaving one dog behind \u2014 in third place<\/a>. King is still at the checkpoint as of 1 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

Emily says on Twitter<\/a> that King explained, “I’m not gonna let this schmuck take any more of the fun away.”<\/p>\n

You can find updates on this story<\/a>, as well as full coverage of the Iditarod race<\/a>, at Alaska Public Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/03\/12\/470208521\/snowmobiler-kills-dog-competing-in-iditarod-attack-apparently-intentional?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Aliy<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Aliy Zirkle handles her dogs during a rest in Galena along the Yukon River, her last stop before heading towards Nulato. Late in the night, as she approached Nulato, Zirkle was attacked by a snowmobiler a few miles outside the small community. Zachariah Hughes\/Alaska Public Media<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Zachariah Hughes\/Alaska Public Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One dog has been killed and multiple dogs have been injured by a snowmobiler in what appears to be an intentional attack on competitors in the Iditarod Race in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Iditarod veteran Aliy Zirkle was the first to report an attack.<\/p>\n

A snowmachiner had “repeatedly attempted to harm her and her team,” the Iditarod Trail Committee says, and one of Zirkle’s dogs had received a non-life-threatening injury.<\/p>\n

Zirkle reported the attack when she arrived in Nulato, Alaska, in the wee hours of the morning, and race officials and law enforcement were notified.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

In what sounds like an intentional incident, a snowmachiner ran into Jeff King’s dogs outside Nulato, kill 3-yo Nash pic.twitter.com\/xG4eJpiMeR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zachariah Hughes (@ZachHughesAK) March 12, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Then Jeff King, a four-time Iditarod champion who was behind Zirkle, reported a similar encounter.<\/p>\n

King’s team was hit by a snowmobiler, injuring several dogs and killing one \u2014 Nash, a 3-year-old male.<\/p>\n

Reporter Emily Schwing tells our Newscast unit that King’s sled has lights and reflectors.<\/p>\n

“It really felt like reckless bravado and playing chicken,” King told Emily.<\/p>\n

Zachariah Hughes, a reporter for Alaska Public Media, says that<\/a> neither King nor Zirkle were injured, according to state troopers.<\/p>\n

A suspect has been identified, race officials say, and an investigation has begun.<\/p>\n

“Regrettably, this incident very much alters the race of the two mushers competing for a win,” the Trail Committee writes. “However, both are going to continue on their way toward Nome.”<\/p>\n

After a four-hour rest, Zirkle left Nulato<\/a> \u2014 leaving one dog behind \u2014 in third place<\/a>. King is still at the checkpoint as of 1 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

Emily says on Twitter<\/a> that King explained, “I’m not gonna let this schmuck take any more of the fun away.”<\/p>\n

You can find updates on this story<\/a>, as well as full coverage of the Iditarod race<\/a>, at Alaska Public Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}