In Finland, anyone can buy hundreds of dogs and set up a sled business.
Finnish animal welfare group SEY says it has received evidence from dozens of sled dog farms showing the mistreatment of dogs.
Numerous former employees of sled dog farms, along with customers, sent SEY videos and images showing sled dogs in poor condition.
The videos and images show dogs shivering in the cold or spending most of their time caged or on chains that are too short.
“The worst cases show the abuse the dogs face,” SEY spokesperson Pi Mäkilä told Yle.
Welfare group: More regulation
SEY is calling for tighter legislation and a licensing system for the industry, arguing that right now, anyone can set up a husky farm.
Mäkilä said the scale of the problems came as a surprise.
While Yle has not been able to independently verify the origin of the images, municipal animal welfare veterinarians said similar cases have been documented in Finnish Lapland.
Police in the region are currently investigating a small number of cases involving sled dog companies.
“Numbers-wise, there are not many cases, but individual cases can be extensive,” explained detective superintendent Pälvi Suokas.
SEY is calling for regulation to oversee how the tourism industry uses dogs.
Introducing a licensing system would be one way to regulate the sector.
“Right now, anyone can buy hundreds of dogs and set up a husky kennel,” Mäkilä said.
