ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 19 (UPI) -- A professional sled dog musher has been banned from Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for two years for allegedly beating his canine cohorts.
The board of directors behind the annual race handed down the two-year suspension recently after allegations that Ramy Brooks beat his dogs while competing in the 1,100-mile race, the Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday.
In addition to being banned from the race in 2008 and 2009, Brooks will be placed on three years probation should he return to the Iditarod.
Brooks admitted in March that he had spanked his dogs after they stopped during the 2007 race, but eyewitnesses to the incident said he violently beat the animals.
He was immediately disqualified from the race.
While one of his sled dogs died during the race from undetermined causes, one veterinarian said he found no bruises on any of the other canines.
An attorney for Brooks told the News that the musher would likely not oppose the board's decision.
