News Release

Denali Sled Dog Kennels Puppy Cam Is Live

Date: May 30, 2025
Contact: Amber Smigiel, 907-202-0156

The live Puppy Cam is back at Denali National Park and Preserve to share the joy of this year's litter of five puppies born in the park on May 3, 2025.

The Kennels and the National Weather Service celebrated 100 years of weather data collection by the mushing rangers of Denali in 2024. In honor of this milestone, the Weather Litter puppies are named after the diverse and sometimes dramatic ways water influences our weather: Storm, Squall, Graupel, Fog, and Dew.

The dam is Merlyn, a Denali Kennels sled dog from the 2021 litter born in the park, and the sire, Drumlin, is from a well-respected partner kennel in Minchumina, Alaska. Arranged breeding and splitting litters with partners strengthens the health of the Kennel's lineage, as well as the health of all freight-style Alaskan huskies.

For 103 years, the Denali Sled Dog Kennels has been the only sled dog kennel in the National Park Service and one of the oldest sled dog kennels in the country. While the role of the Kennels has evolved over time, human and canine rangers have worked together since 1922 to uphold the tradition of preserving the park’s vast wilderness by dog team. Denali’s dogs are authentic working dogs; they continue to run patrols and haul materials in Denali’s two million acres of the federally designated wilderness area. The Kennels continue to embrace wilderness values and share the region’s rich mushing history with visitors.

Funding for the Puppy Cam is made possible through a partnership with Alaska Geographic, using proceeds from their Denali Park Store which helps support interpretation, education, research, and science activities in the park. Alaska Geographic works in partnership with public land agencies to connect people with Alaska’s national parks, forests, refuges and conservation lands through the creation and delivery of exceptional educational products and programs.