Sled dogs inherit elephant treadmill

BIG LAKE, Alaska, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An Alaskan dog sled racer says he obtained an elephant treadmill from the Alaska Zoo to help train his team for the Iditarod race.

Martin Buser, a four-time winner of the 1,150-mile Iditarod, said the 22-foot-long treadmill at his Happy Trails Kennels in Big Lake formerly belonged to Maggie, an 8,000-pound African elephant who left the Alaska Zoo in 2007 for a new home in California, AlaskaDispatch.com reported Tuesday.

Buser said the treadmill may not be up and running until after the upcoming Iditarod race, which begins March 6, but it will be a valuable tool for future training. He said the indoor training area will allow him to do health and fitness tests on his dogs with monitors that could not be used out on a trail.

"All that stuff is really hard to do when the dogs are running up and down the trails, but really easy to do when the dogs are on the treadmill," he said.