5-time Iditarod champion shoots dead, guts moose during the annual sled dog race

A veteran musher had to kill a moose after it injured his dog shortly after the start of this year's Iditarod, race officials said Monday.

Dallas Seavey informed the officials with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Monday morning that he was forced to shoot the moose with a handgun in self-defence.

This came "after the moose became entangled with the dogs and the musher," a statement from the race said.

Seavey, who is tied for the most Iditarod wins ever at five, said he urged officials to get the moose off the trail.

"It fell on my sled, it was sprawled on the trail," Seavey told an Iditarod Insider television crew. "I gutted it the best I could, but it was ugly."

This year's race started Sunday afternoon in Willow, Alaska, about 121 kilometres north of Anchorage. Seavey encountered the moose just before 2 a.m. local time on Monday, 22 kilometres outside the race checkpoint in Skwentna, en route to the next checkpoint 80 kilometres away in Finger Lake.

Seavey, who turned 37 on Monday, arrived in Finger Lake later in the day, where he dropped a dog that was injured in the moose encounter. The dog was flown to Anchorage, where it was being evaluated by a veterinarian.

Alaska State Troopers were informed of the dead moose, and race officials said every effort was being made to salvage the meat.

Race rules state that if a big game animal like a moose, caribou or buffalo is killed in defence of life or property, the musher must gut the animal and report it to race officials at the next checkpoint. Mushers who follow must help gut the animal when possible, the rules states.

New race marshal Warren Palfrey said he would continue to gather information about the encounter as it pertains to the rules, according to the