An Anvik man who competed in the 1983 Iditarod and often runs the Yukon 200 has been charged with animal cruelty after four of his dogs died while he was out of town. Alaska State Troopers said Norman Mac-Alpine , 29, left his dogs without food or water for almost five days while he was in Grayling, a nearby village.

MacAlpine keeps about 20 dogs tied up at a house in Anvik and at a nearby fish camp.

Troopers based the charges on a report by Anvik Public Safety Officer John Peratrovich, who said the dogs were left unattended between Sept. 13 and Sept. 18.

Peratrovich said he went to check the dogs Sept. 17 after receiving a tip from a local resident. He found four dogs dead and the rest listless.

The dogs' ribs were sticking out and they had knocked over their dishes, apparently looking for food, he said. Some of the dogs at the fish camp also had porcupine quills in them, he said.

According to trooper Paul Bartlett, only three of the deaths were cited in the charges. Determining how the fourth dog, a puppy, died would be nearly impossible, he said.

In a phone interview Sept. 24, MacAlpine said the dogs died of disease. He said he fed the dogs fish eggs before he left. And, he said, they had enough water because it rained a lot while he was gone.

"I'm telling you, if you investigate, there's a sickness going around," he said. "I fed the heck out of them before I left. They just up and got sick and croaked."

MacAlpine said he became stuck in Grayling by bad weather and didn't want to risk the trip back on the river with his infant daughter.

Bartlett said MacAlpine should have left someone in charge of the dogs or called when he got stuck in Grayling.

If found guilty of the misdemeanor, MacAlpine could face up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News