Sled dog each year, but after the 1995 events, it was decided to hold them every two years, which facilitated the bidding process and enabled the host organization more time for preparation. Togo was the lead sled dog of Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team in the 1925 serum run to Nome across central and northern Alaska. Balto was the lead dog of the sled dog team that carried the diphtheria serum on the last leg of the relay to Nome during the 1925 diphtheria epidemic. He was driven by musher Gunnar Kaasen, who worked for Leonhard Seppala. Seppala had also
Whistler sled dog cull Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc. (under operational control by Outdoor Adventures Whistler), a company that provided sled dog tours to tourists, and had had orders filed against it by the SPCA in 2006. Robert Fawcett, an employee of Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc., filed a workers' compensation claim with WorkSafeBC for post-traumatic stress disorder after being told to kill 56 sled dogs in April 2010 because of a downturn in bookings following the 2010 Olympic Games, after a veterinarian refused to euthanize the healthy dogs. Fawcett alleged "execution-style killings" in which he wrestled dogs to the ground, stood on them,