Today Norwegian tv showed a travel programme from Greenland.  It was horrible, horrible.  We saw a dead and frozen dog being loosened from the chain he had lived his miserable life in, and thrown in a ditch.  We saw sled dogs being kicked and beaten to make them rise up and pull the sled.  They were so confused by the maltreatment, and so frightened of their owners.  There was an expression of utterly sadness and resignation in their faces.  We saw a dog left to die in the track, with a deep wound in his leg.  He turned his head away and closed his eyes when the camera people approached him, he obviously didn’t expect anything good to come from the hands of men.  The team left him in the track, and when they later asked the owner what he intended to do with him, they were told that there were wolves in the area, so the dog would probably be killed and eaten the following night. 

This is a daily happening in your country.  Thousands of dogs have a hell-like existence just now, chained to the ground in extreme temperatures, many of them with no shelter at all.  The only time they are released from the chain is when they are pulling a sled, and then they are kicked and whipped and treated as worthless creatures, and if wounded they risk to be left behind to die a slow death from starvation and freezing, if they are not torn apart by wolves.

I must admit that after seeing this programme, which confirmed everything we have read about the sled dogs situation, I feel that Greenland is among the worst countries on this planet.  You should be very much concerned about this, not only because if affects the country’s and the people’s reputation, but in the first place because it involves unspeakable suffering for thousands of innocent and defenseless dogs every day.  I will never forget the dogs we met in this programme.  Some of them are  probably dead by now, but still I feel that these are the most lucky ones, because the life these dogs have to endure is no life at all.    

The letter from the home rule is a fine speech about condemning neglect of sled dogs.  But talking doesn’t stop people from starving and brutally maltreating their dogs.  Action is needed now.  The dogs are waiting for someone to end their misery, and the international society is closely watching and waiting for improvements.  Dogs have suffered on Greenland for decades.  It is time to end this tragedy now.   

Now I ask you to get those letter off to the addresses you will find on the Sled Dog page.

 http://www.canadianvoiceforanimals.org/GreenlandSledDogs.html

Grønlandske Slædehunde på Dansk