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Dogs in Alaska’s Iditarod race wear neon collars after five killed by snowmobiles

Iditarod gets underway after 5 dogs killed by snowmobiles
AP Photo/Mark Thiessen
A sled dog on the team of musher Benjamin Good of North Pole, Alaska, waits Saturday to be hooked up to an Iditarod sled in downtown Anchorage.
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Sled dogs raced in the 52nd annual Iditarod will wear neon collars or harnesses after five of them were killed and eight more were injured by snowmobiles during practice on mixed-use Alaskan trails.

Thirty-eight mushers are participating in the race, which spans roughly 1,000 miles. It began ceremonially Saturday and will last roughy 10 days, with the formal competition kicking of Sunday.

This year’s Iditarod is the first in which dogs will sport glowing accessories meant to keep them safe as they cross a mountain ranges and frozen water through day and night. Humans participating in the race wear bright lights on their heads.

Iditarod gets underway after 5 dogs killed by snowmobiles
AP Photo/Mark Thiessen
Sled dogs on the team of musher Benjamin Good of North Pole, Alaska, await their turn to be hooked up to a sled Saturday in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. The winner of the 1.000-mile race is expected to arrive in Nome in about 10 days.

The dogs’ safety equipment was supposed to have been distributed Saturday, but was delayed while racers waited for rules committee approval, according to The Associated Press.

Light gear for the dogs racing Sunday will be handed out about 75-miles north of Anchorage before serious competition starts.

Iditarod gets underway after 5 dogs killed by snowmobiles
Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP
Musher Nicolas Petit leaves downtown during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race with a ceremonial run through Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday.

Protecting dogs that pull racing sleds was brought into focus during a November training run when a snowmobiler believed to be travelling at 65 m.p.h. hit a team led by five-time champion Dallas Seavey.

The crash killed two of his dogs and injured several more.

Weeks later, three dogs were killed and another was hurt in a collision with a professional snowmobiler. In both cases the snowmobile operates were cited for reckless driving. The front dog on an Iditarod teams races roughly 60-feet in front of the sled.

With News Wire Services