Nome, Alaska - Veteran musher Dallas Seavey has won the 2024 Iditarod dog sled race, but it came at a high cost that didn't go unnoticed by animal rights activists.

Seavey made history Tuesday when he crossed the finish line at 5:15 PM with 10 dogs in harnesses. He's now the only person to have won six times.

The 37-year-old's path to victory in 2024 wasn't easy.

"It had to be special, it had to be more than just a normal Iditarod, and for me, it was," he told the Associated Press.

Just hours into the race, Seavey had to kill a moose that got tangled with his team and injured his dog Faloo. After he improperly gutted the large game animal, per race rules Seavey was hit with a time penalty.

The penalty put Seavey in 10th place at one point, but the musher and his team crossed the Finish line in Nome first. His final time was nine days, two hours, and 16 minutes.

"Dallas has proven his ability to overcome adversity on multiple occasions and this historic win is the embodiment of his professionalism, strength, and full exemplary dog care," said Iditarod CEO, Rob Urbach, in a statement.

The historic victory was however marred by the deaths of three dogs.

The 2024 Iditarod was awash with drama even before the race began. Multiple mushers were disqualified, and the competitor field was the smallest ever.

Then during the race two dogs, Bog and George, collapsed and died.

Tuesday, a third dog, a three-year-old male named Henry, a dog on musher Calvin Daugherty's team, collapsed and died outside the Shaktoolik checkpoint, per a press release from the Iditarod race committee. Daugherty's efforts to resuscitate Henry were unsuccessful and his team was scratched from the race.

These deaths – the first in five years – prompted PETA to renew their calls for the end of the 1,000-mile race.

"The Iditarod is the shame of Alaska," PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. "How many more dogs need to die before this stops? Dogs’ lives are worth more than this."

Reiman also slammed Seavey's win, saying the musher has "cemented his legacy as a champion of pain and suffering."

The dogs died because "their exhausted bodies were pushed beyond the breaking point and their blood is on the hands of the mushers, Liberty Media, and every other sponsor of this death race."

"PETA is calling for an immediate end to this nightmare before any more corpses are added to the towering pile this race has already amassed."