Winter 2021
No pathologist needed: an Iditarod blog
When a colleague contacted me in fall 2019 asking if I wanted to participate as a pathologist in the 2020 Iditarod, I didn’t really know what to expect. But I knew it sounded like something I wanted to do.
The race involves teams of sled dogs running approximately 1,000 miles in 10 to 14 days. Typically, more than 50 veterinarians are stationed at about two dozen checkpoints to monitor and care for the animals. Among these veterinarians are one or two veterinary pathologists who are there to do a postmortem examination, called a necropsy, in case a dog dies on the trail. … » More …
