Balto

Balto was a half wolf, half Siberian Husky sled dog, that lead a team, mushed by Gunnar Kassen, on the last leg of a pony express type relay involving more than 20 teams which delivered diphtheria anti-toxin serum over a 674 mile run through blizzards and extremely cold weather to Nome, Alaska in 1925, where an outbreak of the disease was raging. This life-sized bronze statue of the dog by Frederick G.R. Roth was installed in New York's Central Park in December 1925 in honor of this feat. In 1973, the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was organized to commemorate the event. Balto, later was sold as a vaudeville act, cared for poorly, eventually rescued, and lived out the remainder of his life in the Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. After death, he was sent to a taxidermist, mounted, and donated to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History where he remains today; although, Alaska has petitioned for his return to be displayed at the Iditarod Museum in Wasilla. Scanned 35mm negative. (2U009)