Sept. 7, 2007 — Alaskan sled dogs live in one of the world's most pristine environments, but a new study has revealed the hard-working canines are often exposed to potentially dangerous levels of mercury.
Since rural Alaskans frequently share food and living quarters with their dogs, the find — based on an analysis of the animals' fur — suggests mercury poisoning may also pose threats to many Arctic and subarctic region residents.
The study came after elder members of native communities expressed concern about the impact of mercury levels resulting from metal processing, coal burning and other industrial waste. Mercury especially accumulates in one food at the center of Yukon Territory diets — salmon.
"All the subsistence fed sled dogs in the Native Yukon villages were fed mostly salmon," said Kriya Dunlap, a champion sled dog racer and chemist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Dunlap, who led the study, explained that dogs in the Alaskan phase of her study primarily ate salmon, supplemented with black bear, moose and caribou meat, along with table scraps. She also studied New York sled dogs that consumed a well-known commercial dog chow.
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Dunlap and her team cut lower neck fur from 48 dogs, analyzing each sample for mercury content. As a control, the researchers also analyzed fur from 1,290-year-old dog feces found buried in the native village of Deering, located on the northern Seward Peninsula.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
