Last night, Dave Straub had to scratch after he dislocated his shoulder. He was rescued from the trail and spent the night at the McGrath checkpoint. He flew to Anchorage this morning and was picked up by Joanne Potts of the Iditarod Committee and taken to the hospital for x-rays and treatment. I hope someone tells me how he is doing later on. Today, Art Church was forced to scratch at Nikolai because he has pneumonia.
Pneumonia is a really bad illness that both humans and dogs can get.
It is hard to breath when you have pneumonia and no one wants to take any chances with being out in the cold when they have pneumonia. Mike Nosko had to scratch the other day because someone on a snowmachine ran into his team. They didn t bother to stop and help him with the dogs. They were bruised and sore, but thank goodness they were not seriously injured. People on snowmachines go way to fast when they are on trails where dog teams run.