TACOMA -- An Iditarod champion sled dog is in town for veterinary care after taking an extraordinary hit.

Lance Mackey leaves the White Mountain, Alaska, checkpoint in the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Raceon Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Zorro and his team were closing in on the finish line of the 408-mile All Alaska Sweepstakes when a snowmobile plowed into them on Friday. The team was in third place at around midnight Friday when two snowmobiles came up fast behind the team.

Zorro's musher Lance Mackey said he shone his headlamp right in the face of the snowmobiler, but he kept coming.
     
Mackey jumped to the side. He found his sled 30 feet up the trail. The snowmobiles' runners had impaled his sled bag, where he was carrying Zorro. Several dogs received less serious injuries.

Mackey is the only musher to record back-to-back wins in the 1,100-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Zorro is the foundation stud dog in the musher's Comeback Kennel  and considered Alaska's most popular sled dog.

Zorro was flown to the Animal Emergency Clinic in Tacoma on Sunday. The clinic is home to one of the few animal MRI machines in the state.

Mackey spoke with KOMO 4 News by phone as he made his way from Alaska to Tacoma to be with Zorro.

"That is my family," Mackey said. "He is the reason I am what I am today. Ninety percent of my team members he's fathered or he's grandfathered. And to me, he's everything."

Kobi Johnson, the veterinarian treating the dog, says Zorro will make a full recovery but he will never race again. The 9-year-old faces weeks of recovery for four broken ribs and severe bruising.

"The bright white spotty stuff up above is severe bruising of muscle that happened with the snowmobile impact to the side of his chest and spine area," said Johnson.

Veterinarians feared Zorro would be paralyzed. But Johnson says Monday's MRI and an examination by a neurological specialist found no need for emergency surgery.

"He should make a very good recovery. He honestly should," said neurologist Dr. Jerry Demuth.

"No surgery," Johnson said.

Doctors expect Zorro to regain full use of his legs and enjoy a long retirement. He should be able to be sent home Friday.

"I owe it to him to let him live out the rest of his life as happy and healthy as possible," Mackey said.

Meanwhile, the snowmobile driver who hit Mackey's sled dog has come forward.
      
Mackey put out a plea Saturday in Nome for the driver to identify himself, and that happened Sunday, he said.
      
Mackey declined to name the individual but said the person was "absolutely devastated by what happened," the musher told Nome radio station KNOM.
      
Mackey said he expects the person to make reparations. He also said alcohol was involved.