Doubtful Future For Antarctic Huskies

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30983, 12 February 1966, Page 5

Doubtful Future For Antarctic Huskies

THE NOW almost total use of motorised, tracked vehicles, various aircraft, and in view of talk of bringing in hovercraft as a means of transport on the Antarctic continent, it begins to seem that the sledge dog has had his day.

For travel in the grand manner—as is usually done by American and Russian expeditions for example, using convoys of bulldozers and tractors plus a host of supporting personnel—it might be successfully argued that a team of huskies pulling a comparatively small load, would be of no practical use.

But, of course, not every nation represented in Antarctica is able to do its field travel in the grand manner, and some still rely upon dog teams for at least part of their transport.

New Zealand’s effort is an illustration of this. At present Scott Base has some 30 sledge dogs, all welltrained and in excellent condition.

For the last two summers, however, dogs have not been used much by the New Zealanders in the field.

Last summer two teams flown into the Nimrod Glacier region covered barely 160 miles in the eight weeks that they were there; and this summer dogs were used only on short trips out from Scott Base to the nearby Ross Ice Shelf. It could be said that there is little point in keeping huskies at Scott Base year in, year out, if they are not going to be adequately used in the implementation of field programmes.

If the Antarctic Division of the D.S.I.R. decided that the dogs would have to go, what would become of them? There seen to be three main choices: Firstly, and unhappily most likely they could be destroyed —shooting is standard practice for the removal of unwanted sledge dog. Since Scott Base was established in Antarctica in the 1956-57 summer, many times more huskies have been destroyed than are at present living there. A bullet in the back of the head is a swift death, but a sad reward indeed for years of faithful, willing service. A second solution would be to bring them back to New Zealand to be cared for in private homes. On the surface this seems quite a reasonable idea: it is one which was advanced by several people in the correspondence columns of newspapers during last year’s controversy over the killing of dogs at Scott Base. The writers asserted that huskies were friendly, gentle animals. Love Fights Well, so far as their dealings with man is concerned this is quite correct, but fighting between the dogs themselves is an everyday occurrence down on the ice, and often dogs have been killed outright or so severely injured that they have had to be destroyed. Huskies love to fight—it is an essential part of their nature—and it would be virtually impossible to break a dog of this habit upon introducing him to a civilised community. The tale is told of an American sailor who managed to get a husky to the United States from Antarctica. It got on wonderfully with all the people, children included. Eventually it encountered a neighbour’s cat; and it killed it. This was bad enough, but then it ate the cat. This is what might reasonably be expected if sledge dogs from Scott Base were allowed to trot around the New Zealand countryside. 1

This article was written by Mr I. B. McDonald, who was the dog handler at Scott Base for the Antarctic division of the Department of Scientific and Industria Research from October, 1964, to November, 1965.

While it is rare to see a grown husky attacking a pup of its own kind, or to see males fighting with females, the huskies do not necessarily observe these rules where other animals are concerned. There have been cases of dogs getting loose among groups of penguins and creating utter chaos. No, the husky is not a domestic animal.

It would be ideal if they would be accepted by some other Antarctic base. It was thought at one stage that the Japanese might be able to use some Scott Base dogs at their own Antarctic station “Showa” which they reopened this summer, but little has been heard of this proposal recently. My own solution is that a place should be found for them in the Arctic, where dog teams are still used extensively. But would anybody—government department or otherwise —be prepared to go to the expense of shipping thirty dogs half way round

the world? Public pressure and public subscription might be the answer.

What a tragedy if the Scott Base huskies were wiped out! Almost all of them are outstanding physical specimens; the males average about 951 b. One, Toby, weighed 1201 b. Similar in stature to a small donkey, Toby could, without effort, place his paws on a man’s shoulders in order to lick his face.

With rare exception, huskies show unbounded affection for man. Any person going down to the dog lines would never have the heart merely to approach and pat just one dog; the anguished howls and frenzied prancing up and down of the rest of the dogs would force him to pay his respects to the whole lot. Comparing the dog team with its automotive counterpart, the motor toboggan, perhaps the most telling point in favour of the toboggan is that dogs need to be fed and otherwise maintained the whole year through. Motoi’ toboggans when not in use are merely put in storage. What about performance? On a good surface, motor toboggons arec learly faster. They have been known to travel at more than 15 miles an hour for short periods on compacted snow; a nine-dog team hauling a load of, say, 13001 b (an average field load) would be capable of only some 5 miles an hour. In very soft snow they would halve that speed, but on bare ice they could double it. It is when the surface is

rough, or when there are hidden crevasses about, that the dog team becomes superior. There are places where a toboggan just could not venture, while the husky is capable of going wherever a man on foot can.

In a mishap where a motor toboggan would be completely engulfed in a hidden crevasse the chances are that all a dog team would lose would be perhaps the lead dog and the first pair behind him. The field party could still travel with its reduced dog team. The men would be safe because dog drivers—unlike motor toboggan drivers—normally travel alongside the back of the sledge. A short note on the driving of sledge dogs: To start a team off after a rest, the driver cries out, “Are you ready, boys?” The effect is usually instantaneous; the huskies, quietly sunning themselves, or eating snow, spring to their feet as though electrified and strain forward in their traces.

If the sledge has settled into the snow the driver will need to nudge it to break it free. As he does this, he gives the command “Wheet.” which is the equivalent of the French-Canadian “Mush,” and is used along with several other, more colourful, expressions to keep the dogs moving.

For a left turn, a loudly rolled “R” finished with an “uh” is called; and to turn to the right a woofing “Ook” sound is used.

The command that all dogs listen out for after they have been pulling for a while is the call to stop—a drawn-out “Aaaah,” which starts loudly and tapers away. The driver must be cautious, though about making a sound anything like this command during his conversation with a companion when on the move. One might say “Ah” while considering one’s reply to a question and find the sledge abruptly stopped with all nine dogs resting in the snow.