SEATAC, Wash. — It’s not every day you come across four Norwegian dog sled teams trekking through Western Washington, but it happened Wednesday.
KIRO 7 caught up with the teams at the Lufthansa cargo bay of Sea-Tac Airport after people in Western Washington came to the rescue in a travel nightmare.
The four teams’ trip home from the Iditarod race in Alaska didn't go as planned. When they couldn't get a cargo flight out of Anchorage, they drove to Seattle in a U-Haul. Musher Tore Albrigsten told KIRO 7 they couldn't stop five minutes without someone calling the cops on them.
“Getting treated as a criminal as a dog musher,” said Albrigsten. “That is new for me.”
But he says their faith in humanity was restored by the Nisqually Tribe who invited them to camp on their land until the Wednesday flight out of Sea-Tac.
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“There was great hospitality,” said Albrigsten. “And they were feeding us. I haven't had breakfast yet, because I'm not hungry. Been eating like a horse.”
As for loading 53 dogs onto a plane, Lufthansa cargo workers told KIRO 7 the biggest thing is keeping them away from cats.
“We actually do have two cats on this flight,” said Lufthansa Cargo Manager Adel Ismail. “And they'll be far, far, far from where the 53 dogs would be.”
Right before the cargo handlers load the dogs on the plane, they put a little water in bowls attached to the dogs’ crates. So for the 8 ½ hour flight, that little water is all they'll have. When they get to Germany, the dogs are taken to an animal lounge. Lufthansa workers take them out so the dogs can do their business.
Albrigsten says the dogs handle it just fine.
“They never know how long they're gonna run, they never know how long they're going to sit,” he said. “They have no idea, they have to just trust you.”
And this isn't the end of the journey. Once they land in Germany, they've got a 2,000 mile drive home to northern Norway. And if you're wondering what it costs to fly 53 dogs from Germany to Seattle, the teams told KIRO 7 it was about $25,000.