Musher Shoots Moose -- Animal Attacks Team In Sled-Dog Race

ROHN, Alaska - Defending champion Joe Runyan held the lead today in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race after passing four-time winner Rick Swenson, while 78 miles back another musher recovered from a moose attack on his dog team.

Lorren Weaver, holding 44th place among the 68 racers still in the race, had to fire five rounds from his pistol to drop a moose that attacked his dogs on the trail between Skwentna and Finger Lake, race officials said.

One dog was gashed across the head, but Weaver, a 50-year-old physician fron Knik, and his team were unhurt. They continued into Finger Lake, checkpoint No. 7 and 193 miles from the start of the race from Anchorage to Nome that started Saturday.

Race spokeswoman Debbie Croutch said the moose was without antlers, but there was no report on whether it wa a bull or a cow. Bulls often have dropped their racks this by time of year.

In accordance with state game laws, Weaver gutted the animal before mushing on.

Meanwhile, 28 racers, nearly half the 68 remaining in the race, were reported this morning at Rohn Roadhouse, checkpoint No. 9 and 271 miles from the start of the 1,158-mile trek commemorating the 1925 emergency delivery by relay dog teams of life-saving diphtheria serum to Nome.

Iditarod mushers often use Rohn for their rest stop. the cabin that serves as the checkpoint, at the south fork of the Kuskokwim and Tatina rivers, marks the spot where terrain shifts to the flatlands of interior Alaska and temperatures ususally drop.

Along with Runyan and Swenson at Rohn were Tim Osmar, Dee Dee Jonrowe, Lavon Barve, and three-time champ Susan Butcher, who has climbed to sixth place from her starting spot of 69th.