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While the holiday frenzy has faded for much of the world, in Finnish Lapland, sled dogs continue to pull tourists through the snow-covered landscapes of the North—often until late April. Particularly in more popular places such as the official hometown of Santa Claus, Rovaniemi, and the ski resort Levi, husky safaris are now established as a key attraction rating as one of the top tourism activities For many, it is becoming increasingly “difficult to imagine a visit to Lapland without huskies” (Bohn, García-Rosell, & Äijälä, 2018; 3). With approximately 2 million tourists visiting Lapland in 2024, this creates pressures on husky safaris to cater to an increasing demand. As a result, the number of sled dogs, guides, and working hours continue to rise at a concerning rate. At the moment, there are over 50 kennels ranging from 12-500 dogs per operator.

To examine the impact this increased demand can have on both huskies and the mushers/guides who work with them, Project PAWWS has been conducting research on these multispecies tourism workers in Finnish Lapland. This research builds on existing academic literature concerned with sled dog work in Finnish Lapland, as well as recent ethical concerns that whistle-blowers have exposed of some of the living/working conditions of sled dogs and guides at certain kennels. Despite dogs working in the tourism industry often being depicted in promotional material in a solely positive light, researchers, activists, and concerned mushers and operators are increasingly going public about the treatment of sled dogs and guides at some kennels that, the worst of which, goes largely unseen by tourists and the public. During the summer of 2024, for example, the newspaper Lapin Kansa published two articles¹ that exposed husky and guide abuse in one kennel. While this exposed some of the sled dog industry’s realities to many, it perhaps did not have the strong impact that it could have. Due to these articles only being available behind a pay wall, written in Finnish, and published over the summer when most of Finland is on holiday, their exposure was relatively limited.² As a response, the Finnish animal welfare organization SEY (Suomen Eläinsuojelu Yhdistys) published an online article on the “wild west of the Lapland sled dog industry” also highlighting ethical and wellbeing concerns along with discrepancies to, for example, Norwegian sled dog keeping bans (Mäkilä, 2024).However, such realities for sled dogs and guides are not limited to Finland or Lapland, and the past year has seen reports from other countries, as well.³ Closely following the first article on this topic, Lapin Kansa published an editorial entitled “Four-legged friends play a big role in Lapland tourism – animal welfare should be a given”.⁴ Further, an article⁵ by Professor José-Carlos García-Rosell in Lapin Kansa highlighted that concerns are being considered for example in current research being conducted on the welfare of multispecies tourism workers by Finland’s northern universities, specifically at the University of Lapland, with Project PAWWS, and University of Oulu School of Economics.

This recent rise in research about the Finnish animal-based tourism industry suggests a rise in awareness and concern about the treatment of tourism workers of different species and underlines a further need for exposure, research and ethical development of practice in this area.

Therefore, the research conducted by Project PAWWS on sled dogs as tourism workers is timelier than ever. With limited existing academic literature on sled dog work in Finnish Lapland (some examples being Äijälä, 2019; Fesenko &García-Rosell, 2019; García-Rosell & Äijälä, 2018; García-Rosell, 2022; García-Rosell & Haapakoski, 2023; García-Rosell & Tallberg, 2021; Klos et al., 2018; Tallberg, García-Rosell & Haanpää, 2022), there are many pressing questions to address. Working on a nuanced conceptualization of considering animals as stakeholders in practice (Tallberg et al., 2022) and the need for multispecies inclusivity in business and society (Tallberg, Huopalainen & García-Rosell, 2024), PAWWS takes an interdisciplinary approach to the sled dog industry. This approach brings together Animal Organization Studies (bringing animals into the center of business and organizational analysis through a critical lens), Anthrozoology (the study of human interactions and dynamics with individuals of other species), Social Health, and Veterinary Science. Based on a multispecies ethnography including 41 interviews with mushers (kennel operators/owners), guides, sled dog adopters, and a kennel auditor, PAWWS is concerned with topics such as the ethical decision-making at the end of a sled dog’s working life, as well as how their jobs as tourism workers are organized.

The case presented in the Lapin Kansa articles raises significant and urgent welfare concerns for both sled dogs and guides—many of which are illegally working in Finland. However, sled dogs fall into a legal gray area, as they are neither officially classified as farm animals, companion animals (‘pets’) or as working dogs. As a result, their welfare, well-being, and worker’s rights are not legally recognized. As with other animals in Finland, legally they fall under the new Animal Welfare Act 2024 (693/2023) which states that animals must have the opportunity to fulfill their most essential behavioral needs (movement, rest, feeding behavior, thermoregulation etc.) Further, the Kennel Association of Finland (Kennelliliitto, n.d.) highlight from the new Act some specifications relevant to sled dogs:

“The dog must have constant access to water at the place where it is kept. However, this is not required when exceptionally severe weather conditions prevent continuous availability of meltwater. Annual periods of subzero temperatures are not considered such weather conditions. Continuous access to meltwater is not required in sled dog establishments during the winter, but when the water freezes due to weather conditions, the dogs must be given water at least three times a day.”

However, there is very limited monitoring and actual regulations on these aspects in practice. For example, as there may be only one or two employees feeding 100 or more dogs, the dogs aren’t fed daily, something which greatly impacts both dog and human work wellbeing. The limited regulations have direct consequences on their welfare, and many of the poor conditions in which sled dogs find themselves are still legal under Finnish law. Kennels that prioritize the humane treatment of their husky employees do so based on their own ethical framings rather than because of any existing standards, regulations, or laws. Research conducted by PAWWS examines these often harmful organizational processes and the interpersonal treatment of sled dogs within the Finnish sled dog industry. An overview of this research will be shared during Project PAWWS’ Spring Symposium on May 22nd, 2025, entitled “Interspecies Well-Being at Work” (a link to register for this event will be shared on the PAWWS website in due course).

1. Articles can be found here and here ↩︎
2. Since their publication, version have been released in German, French, and Spanish here ↩︎
3. Some examples in Sweden: (1) (2) and in German (1) ↩︎
4. This can be read here ↩︎
5. That can be read here ↩︎

Authors

Tiamat Warda, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Lapland

Linda Tallberg, Senior Lecturer, University of Lapland

Article image: Tiamat Warda