INVESTIGATORS have kicked out claims by PETA that a top Alaska sled-racing kennel is cruel to dogs.
PETA claimed huskies were being badly mistreated but a probe found there was no case to answer.
The animal rights group said the kennel run by top sled racer Dallas Seavey had dogs with open wounds and that they were chained to barrels.
But the kennels in Matanuska-Susitna, Alaska, were cleared by borough Mayor Vern Halter who said the complaint was completely false.
Animal welfare officials in Alaska who also visited the kennel supported Mayors statement, saying that they inspected all 89 dogs at the site and found no evidence of animal cruelty or neglect.
Animal Care officer Nick Uphus said: “We’ve found no evidence of animal cruelty.
“Previous mushing kennel licensing inspections also have not turned up any cause for concern.”
Seavey is a celebrity musher in Alaska and has won the famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times and it is though PETA targeted his kennel for publicity.
In response, PETA spokesman David Perle said : “It’s appalling and yet, also telling, that Mayor Vern Halter, a musher himself, considers cruel conditions such as chaining dozens of dogs to plastic barrels to be a ‘high standard of care’”.
An unidentified female whistle-blower reportedly worked at the kennel as a dog handler between September 5 and Oct 27, 2017 and contacted PETA.
