The 67-year-old dog sled driver from Sisimiut has been sentenced by Greenland’s High Court to a ban on any form of keeping, or dealing with, sled dogs for a period of three years.
A 67-year-old man is found in Greenland’s High Court guilty of keeping biting dogs.
This happens after the High Court last week heard the man’s explanation and witness statements for three episodes where his dogs have attacked people.
The sentence is a ban on any form of keeping, or dealing with, sled dogs for a period of three years.
– The judgment expresses that it is the dog sled driver’s own responsibility to ensure that his sled dogs are not dangerous to people, and that all safety measures, including killing the dogs involved, are observed when an incident occurs.
– If these safety measures have not been observed, it can have serious consequences for the dog sled driver, says Aprilia Jespersen, deputy prosecutor at the Prosecutor’s Office at the Greenland Police.
The case concerns three episodes in March and April 2023, where the defendant’s dogs attacked people.
Greenland’s High Court acquitted the defendant of the first matter, committed in March 2023, as it was the opinion of the high court that it was only after this incident that it must have been clear to the defendant that he kept biting sled dogs.
Should have been euthanized after first relationship
The 67-year-old man was already found guilty of violating the law on sled dogs in Qeqqa Circle in March 2025.
The circuit court banned the man from keeping dogs and other domestic animals for five years. But the court also made the sentence conditional. The man could therefore continue to have dogs as long as the problems do not recur. The prosecutor had gone for an unconditional measure.
In the High Court, the prosecution went for a tougher approach.
– High Court. As I started with, this case revolves around whether the defendant has kept biting dogs. You must decide whether he was aware that his dogs were biting, said prosecutor Aprilia Jespersen in court on Thursday 9 July.
According to her, the defendant should have assessed that it was unsafe to drive with his dogs after the first two episodes in which the dogs behaved aggressively. However, he continued to drive tourist drives with the dog bucket, which ended with a father and his two daughters being attacked by the dogs.
– There are three cases where the sled dogs have been biting, and where the sled dogs should have been euthanized after the first case, so the rest could have been avoided, she said.
Will lose his livelihood
The defender, on the other hand, requested an acquittal or the mildest sentence if the court found the defendant guilty.
The defender acknowledged that there had been episodes where people had gone astray. Therefore, the defendant has also acknowledged the obligation to compensate. But according to the defender, the 67-year-old did not keep dogs to make them biting and did what he could to help the people.
He also emphasized that the defendant did not know about one of the incidents until he was questioned about the other incidents.
– Using an argument that he has been aware that it has happened three times contradicts everything that has come forward here, said defender Ulrik Blidorf on Thursday.
He also pointed out that the defendant had said that it was his son’s dog crate that behaved threateningly in one of the episodes.
Under the personal circumstances, the defender stated that the defendant makes a living from dog sledding. If he is banned from dealing with dogs, it will all come to a standstill.
The defendant finally took the floor and said he had driven several hundred guests with the bucket that attacked a family before that incident.
– Have any of them said anything negative? No one has been bitten. I wouldn’t let my son run with my dogs if I wasn’t sure about their behavior. For my part, it would be absurd to be denied the right to have dog sleds and sled dogs.
The 15 dogs that attacked were euthanized shortly afterwards. The defendant has since been driving his sons’ dogs.
