The trailer for an upcoming documentary about dog sledding has miffed some Alaskan mushers involved, who say the aim of the documentary was misrepresented.
Fern Levitt’s documentary “Sled Dogs” criticizes the sport of dog-sledding and will be premiered next month at a film festival in British Columbia. The trailer appeared on YouTube within the last week.
The description of the trailer on YouTube reads: “A provoking expose of the cruelty to dogs that permeates the commercial sled dog industry that supply sled dogs for such famous races as the Iditarod in Alaska. The film addresses the sled dog cull that occurred in Whistler and the attempts by locals to run an ethical sled dog business in its stead.”
While not fully focused on Alaska’s Iditarod, video included features “the last great race on earth” alongside footage of bloody sled dogs and coverage of dog-sledding animal cruelty cases in other states.
One Alaskan musher interviewed in the film now says the filmmaker told him the documentary would be about a rookie musher, while another Alaskan musher says the movie misrepresents isolated incidents.
