Several dogs from one of the top twenty finishing teams at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race failed a drug test:
It's not your ordinary sports doping scandal: some dogs who mushed this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have tested positive for the opioid pain reliever Tramadol, the event's governing board said Wednesday.
The Iditarod Trail Committee Board of Directors, which oversees the nearly 1,000-mile race, says that when dogs were tested six hours after finishing in Nome, Alaska, in March, several from one team came back positive for the drug. It is the first-ever positive result since Iditarod testing for prohibited substances began in 1994, officials said.
The Board announced last week that "a prohibited substance" had been found in some of the dogs. The latest information clarifies that it was Tramadol. The Associated Press reports that investigators estimate the drug could have been administered up to 15 hours before the test.
The rules will be changed to require mushers to prove that they did not intentionally administer drugs to their dogs in the case of a positive test. Currently, race officials are required to prove that the doping was intentional.
Also at The Guardian and DW.
See Also: Routine On U.S. Racetracks, Horse Doping Is Banned In Europe
Report: Horsemen Keeping Tabs On Development Of New Human Drugs
Doped up greyhounds add to the disgrace dogging parimutuels in Florida
(Score: 2) by rylyeh on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:54PM (1 child)
Why do they wait till six hours after the race to test the dogs? I don't get it.
"a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:26PM
Have you tried drawing blood from a cold, dehydrated, tired living being ? Imagine a sick cranky toddler, with my-cousin-is-a-wolf fangs...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:22PM (3 children)
Why does anyone bother watching sports any more?
At least in the past, when you watched a sports competition, you could be reasonably sure it was a fair competition between players of their athletic ability. But these days, it's just a competition to see who can avoid getting caught doping.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 20 2017, @01:10AM (2 children)
So they could have an excuse to get together drunk and hoot and pump their fists on game day. Some sports gatherings culminate in the ultimate expression of brotherhood, the football riot.
Although I wouldn't expect anybody to understand this on a site for nerds where the highlight of their week is beating their dick alone to the fat blonde chick on Big Bang Theory.
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Friday October 20 2017, @01:32PM
Fat? JFC.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @05:08PM
Watching sports is lame. Watching sports like football, with constant stoppage of play, is lamer. Watching sports like football with constant stoppage of play, on a tiny box, interlarded with enough stupid commercials to suck away half your adult life, is the lamest of all.
Playing sports is infinitely superior. The touch football with friends in your yard on a crisp autumn afternoon will be far more entertaining and meaningful than any NFL game. Also, the beer is cheaper, and you can sing awful dirty songs without pantywaists complaining (actually I don't know if they do that in football the way we did in rugby).
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:26PM (2 children)
Baseball player Barry Bonds in in the record books, but there's an asterisk beside his name because he used steroids.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 20 2017, @05:28AM
https://sports.theonion.com/mlb-to-place-asterisk-pound-sign-exclamation-point-l-1819568480 [theonion.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:20PM
They gave Roger Maris the asterisk for less than that.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:29PM (9 children)
Lets face it, it's probably not good for the dog.
That said, I'm fine watching a movie and watching someone get shot in the head. Shoot a dog in the head, or kick a cat, and I have a much more visceral reaction. I'm hoping it's because I know the guy getting shot is CGI or green screen, but not so sure about the animal.
Then again, I could be some kind of *path, or lack empathy, or am a bad human being.
/ have a cat
// have owned cats and dogs all my life
/// can't imagine hurting any of them in any way (OK, cat hates the flea meds, but it's a couple drops on her neck. Stupid cat)
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:35PM (1 child)
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KickTheDog [tvtropes.org]
And there I thought the point of the Iditarod was to finish, and rankings didn't matter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:24PM
Unilaterally putting someone's CC-BY-SA licensed work under a CC-BY-NC-SA license isn't much better than kicking a dog.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:55PM (3 children)
It is because we view animals as innocent, which they almost always are. There are the occasional psycho dogs, but most times those are due to human influence. We are desensitized to hurting people, but we are overly sensitized to hurting animals. Lots of other countries don't really have this same issue.
Not that hurting anything is good, but it is odd how drastically people protect animals in the US compared to humans. Self-loathing FTL. I say this as a dog owner who has a hard time emotionally when recalling my dog getting hit by a truck even though she's totally fine now.
"Eh, they're human, they're probably horrible in SOME way!"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 20 2017, @01:14AM (1 child)
Are any of your dogs Chihuahas, pugs, French bulldogs, or Boston Terriers?
If yes to any, then you deserve to be euthanized along with your filthy any-of-the-above animals.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @05:12PM
The breeds you listed make more sense in an urban setting. I prefer rottweilers, labs, and retrievers but they need room to run; cramming them into apartments and co-ops is cruel.
Context matters.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 20 2017, @05:19PM
Animals are animals. They're neutral. It's how we feel about them that matters to us. That's why some rabbits are pets, and others are food. Many people would be shocked if they knew how readily our "innocent" animals would eat us if they could. Exhibit A: pigs. Exhibit B: dogs sicced on hapless enemies of the North Korean state. Exhibit C: grandma's nice little kitties after she's died in her sleep.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:57PM (2 children)
People have doped themselves with substances that could cause a lot more health problems than tramadol. So it's not shocking for people to administer drugs to dogs. I wonder how effective the pain killers are though. The NPR on-air story said that it helps dogs "run through the pain".
lol: Anti-doping efforts still in their infancy in eSports [dw.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday October 20 2017, @01:38AM
In some cases, themselves. Dobby the dog tripping on cane toads [youtube.com]
---
See also:
- bufotenin [wikipedia.org]
- toad licking [gizmodo.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @01:45AM
I'd never heard of tramadol until earlier this week -- when an elderly relative broke their arm (knife-like pain when disturbed) and this was prescribed as something a bit stronger than Tylenol. Pharmacist said it wasn't on any opioid watch lists (presumably because it's not very strong?) After two 50mg tablets taken 6 hours apart, they have sworn it off--made them too dopey and incompetent feeling, although it did work on the pain. If pain returns they might try again with half a tablet.
One thing for sure, it is cheap -- in this case the co-pay along with a senior drug plan was 44 cents for 14 tabs.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RedBear on Friday October 20 2017, @02:19AM (3 children)
Sounds like somebody desperately wants to get their name in some history book or on a plaque before there's no more Iditarod. I've lived in Alaska for a quarter century now, (amazing how time flies) and they keep having to move the race further north and postpone it due to weather issues. I'm afraid there will come a time relatively soon when a sled dog race in Alaska will no longer be practical, no matter what time of year it is, or how far north they move the route. Not enough snow accumulation to sled on. Kind of sad, really. But don't worry, it's just a "cycle". Things will be back to normal in a few thousand years. Maybe.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 20 2017, @02:36AM (2 children)
Read about it in my upcoming book, "The Last Idoperod".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 20 2017, @02:47AM (1 child)
Idoperod? Sounds like something Nascar fans could get behind. Maybe we can market this?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 20 2017, @02:57AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiotarod [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @11:51AM (1 child)
> The rules will be changed to require mushers to prove that they did not intentionally administer drugs to their dogs in the case of a positive test.
And how do you do that if someone else gives your dogs the drugs without your knowledge? Are you just presumed guilty?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:31PM
>And how do you do that if someone else gives your dogs the drugs without your knowledge?
Keep your dogs close, and your enemies closer.
>Are you just presumed guilty?
No, you're just disqualified.