The Iditarod is considered the toughest dog sled race in the world. A dog that disappeared in the Alaskan wilderness in mid-March has now found its way back to its owner.
A sled dog who suddenly disappeared from the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska has been reunited with its owner just under three months later.
“Leon is with me!” Sled guide Sebastien Dos Santos Borges wrote on Facebook on Sunday. He thanked the people who had helped locate the missing dog. This is a “wonderful story of love and friendship,” said the Frenchman happily.
The three-year-old husky disappeared on March 13 in the small town of Ruby on the Yukon River, a stage point on the 1,800-kilometer racetrack, the Iditarod organizers said. A finder’s reward has been suspended. A search operation lasting several weeks, also with airplanes, was unsuccessful.
Leon only reappeared at the end of May. Residents in the remote village of McGrath, more than 200 kilometers from Ruby, sighted the dog and lured it with food. The organizers announced that the animal was then caught on June 4th. Borges arrived from France and was reunited with Leon in McGrath, the People.com portal reported on Monday.
The Iditarod runs through the Alaskan wilderness and is considered the toughest dog sled race in the world. This year, at the beginning of March, 49 sled drivers, so-called mushers, started with their dog teams, including 17 women. After eight days, 14 hours and 38 minutes, the American Brent Sass crossed the finish line as the winner with eleven dogs in front of his sled in Nome.
