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Inmates provide care for trail-worn Iditarod dogs

Annie Lewis of Honolulu provides care for a weary Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race dog at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center Friday. The dog is one of many that were unable to complete the race to Nome to be housed at the facility and cared for by inmates prior to being picked up by their handlers. STAR PHOTO BY MARY M. RALL

Dogs too weary to make it all the way to Nome as a part of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race are getting a well-earned respite at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.

Hiland is one of three locations providing care for sled dogs that are dropped off by their mushers at checkpoints and are unable to finish the race, said Sgt. Rick McCafferty, a Hiland house supervisor. However, unlike the Wasilla and Anchorage locations, the dogs placed at Hiland receive care by inmates until their handlers pick them up.

McCafferty said the program has been in place at Hiland since 1974 and is a privilege the 30 inmates involved with care are required to earn.

“You have to be on your best behavior, and you have to make sure that you're doing everything according to policy and the rules of the facility,” he said. “So then it's a privilege for them to come out and do this, and a lot of them know that this is happening every year, so they want to be a part of this. They want to be involved.”

The outdoor area set aside for the dogs is capable of housing about 60 dogs, who are cared for 24 hours a day by two different shifts of inmates, McCafferty said.

“The ladies that volunteer to come out here and do it, they love the change. The dogs bring a good atmosphere for them to come out here,” he said. “They clean up all the mess, they're feeding them, they're watering them, they're petting them. It's just a good outlook for them. They love it.”

Angel Flynn-Hepler of Juneau, who has been incarcerated at Hiland for more than nine years for first-degree arson and second-degree murder, is volunteering to care for the dogs for her third year.

“I like being with the dogs. It makes me feel peace and content,” Flynn-Hepler said, adding that she looks forward to working with the dogs annually. “Each year it's different, it seems like, because you get different dogs. Each one of them has a different personality. It's kind of cool.”

A sleepy Iditarod dog rests under a blanket provided by a Hiland Mountain Correctional Center inmate, who gave some tender loving care to the weary athlete. STAR PHOTO BY MARY M. RALL

She said working with the dogs is a way for her to give back to the community.

“I've taken all my life. I've taken from society, I've taken from the community, and it was really important for me to give back for a change,” Lewis said. “It's part of my own personal restitution. It's something that the courts didn't ask me to do. My heart called out for me to do it.”

She said she can relate to the weary nature of the dogs.

“You can tell that they've been run hard, and I've ran hard to the point of exhaustion through drugs and alcohol,” Lewis said, adding that caring for the dogs is helping her learn to be a better person.

“It's really brought my compassion level up and my empathy,” she said. “It's giving. It's getting out of myself. It's looking at an animal that's helpless and helping them. In helping them, I can help myself.”

McCafferty said the dogs are more tired than injured and that the number of dogs received at the facility is relatively low this year in comparison to others.

“We have seen a little decrease,” McCafferty said. “Usually this is pretty full, so we're not seeing as many dogs, so we're a little surprised.”

He said dogs will continue to be cared for at Hiland until mushers get to the halfway point, at which time tired dogs will be taken elsewhere.

Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, March 15, 2007.