More Proof of the Cruelty of Dog Sledging (Dog Sledding): Ego Maniac Leaves Dogs to Die and Starves the Rest on Trip from France to Russia

What an idiot. Just a pure ego move. Consider the following facts and then you tell me if he was prepared and, if the dogs aren’t suffering:

“The huskies are in an extremely bad condition, with legs covered in blood up to their knees. Three of the 10 animals could not continue the trip and had to be left along the way. The dry feed they receive is not nourishing enough in temperatures that reach 50 C below zero, Vita said.

When the dogs were offered hay to lie on during a stop in the city of Tomsk, the animals started eating it hungrily, bringing witnesses to tears, said a letter that Tomsk citizens sent to Vita.”

Russian Animal Rights Group Cites Famous French Traveler’s Cruelty

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/31/badnicolas.shtml

French traveler Nicolas Vanier, who is crossing Russia in a dog-drawn sledge, is behaving cruelly towards his dogs, Russian Vita animal rights organization reported Tuesday.

Vanier is now in the middle of his journey that started in December in Irkutsk and will finish on Moscow’s Red Square in March. But witnesses say the Frenchman, who is traveling across Russia in a sledge drawn by 10 dogs, may not be able to get to the final stage if he continues to treat his carrier animals as he does now.

The huskies are in an extremely bad condition, with legs covered in blood up to their knees. Three of the 10 animals could not continue the trip and had to be left along the way. The dry feed they receive is not nourishing enough in temperatures that reach 50 C below zero, Vita said.

When the dogs were offered hay to lie on during a stop in the city of Tomsk, the animals started eating it hungrily, bringing witnesses to tears, said a letter that Tomsk citizens sent to Vita.

Vita said either Vanier has insufficient experience with dogs, or he has chosen the route badly, as his huskies can run well in the snow, but cannot run over the ice that they have to cross.

Vita expressed serious doubts whether an expedition that results in the painful death of animals can serve as means of environmental education, the way Vanier’s voyage was meant to.