Moose Attacks Dog Sled in Iditarod - Page 3

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

@MorningLover wrote:
ABC News...
Watkins said that the attack, first reported by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, happened while she was on a 52-mile (83.7-kilometer) training run for the nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It starts March 5 in Anchorage.

"As he charged me I emptied my gun into him and he never stopped,” she wrote on Facebook. “I ran for my life and prayed I was fast enough to not be killed in that moment. He trampled the team and then turned for us.”

“It is never a musher's intention to go out and kill an animal,” Watkins told the AP.

She said no musher would ever travel with a rifle or a large caliber gun, instead preferring to scare off animals with a flare gun. And with all the jostling of the sled, the larger guns could easily go off.

“People have a lot of negative comments about what I should or should not have been doing but they’re not the people on the back of that sled,” she said.

“It’s not that I wasn’t prepared. I wasn’t prepared to kill a moose, that’s correct,” Watkins said. “It’s not my intention to go around in February and hunt and kill an animal. This is like worst-case scenario defending my life.”

She did carry a .380 caliber gun because there are few people where she trains, and she keeps it to to deter or scare off animals. She has since upgraded to a larger caliber firearm after it didn't stop the moose.

“That would be asinine to go back out there on the same trail, the same place, and not have a gun where I can’t truly put down an animal if I have to,” she said..

@MorningLover Thank you for giving us the rest of the story.

beach-mom · ‎03-09-2010

@MorningLover - Thank you for giving us this update. I've been following this story, and I am so impressed with Bridgett! Her love for her dogs and her faith will help them all get through this.

I was impressed that she was able to cut the straps so some of her dogs could get away.

Can you imagine the fear she felt for her other four dogs, watching the moose stand there for an hour?

I've never seen a moose and I don't want to. I'm just so happy the dogs will be OK!

Patriot3 · ‎06-07-2010

I'm sure the sledder was terrified!! They love those dogs and the dogs are trained to run and pull the sleds. She did save 6 of the dogs. I don't see what else she could have done and I give her credit for what she did do.

Some are too quick to blame the human when something like this happens. Sure, it's sad to see the dogs suffering, but should she have put them above her own life and tried to fight the moose? I don't think so.

Glittergal · ‎05-12-2010

More casualties of this race. I have no good opinions about it. Although I don't agree with someone driving sled dogs at all, I am glad she is ok. I am sure that was absolutely terrifying. Perhaps this experience will make her reconsider her hobby/job.