Information AboutBalto |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BALTO | |
| dog monuments | |
| central park | |
| dog sledding | |
| famous dogs | |
| history of alaska | |
| history of cleveland | |
| 1922 animal births | |
| 1933 animal deaths | |
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.]] ( New York City )]] Balto was the lead Dog on the final leg of the 1925 Serum Run To Nome , the transport of Diphtheria Antitoxin from Anchorage , to Nome, Alaska in the United States by Dog Sled , to combat an outbreak of the disease. The run is commemorated by the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race . In January 1925 , doctors realized that a potentially deadly diphtheria Epidemic was poised to sweep through Nome's young people. The only serum that could stop the outbreak was in Anchorage, nearly a thousand Mile s ( 1,600 Km ) away. The two Aircraft that could quickly deliver the medicine had been dismantled for the winter. After considering alternatives, officials decided to move the medicine by Sled Dog . The serum was transported by Train from Anchorage to Nenana , where the first Musher embarked from Nenana as part of a dog-sled relay aimed at delivering the needed serum to Nome. More than 20 mushers took part, facing a Blizzard with −53 °C Temperature s and strong Wind s. News coverage of the race was worldwide. On February 2 , 1925 , the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen drove his team, led by the Husky Balto (named after Samuel Balto ), into Nome. Balto and Kaasen became celebrities, even though more than a dozen mushers and their teams participated. The longest and most hazardous stretch of the run was actually covered by another Norwegian, Leonhard Seppala and his dog team, led by Togo . They left Nome towards the end of the run, picked up the serum, and turned back. Balto was not considered by the mushers a particularly good lead dog, but he proved himself on the Iditarod trail, saving his team from certain death in the Topkok River. When Cleveland, Ohio residents raised $2,000 to purchase him from a Vaudeville Sideshow operator (the likes of whom mistreated the heroic huskies), Balto and six companions were given a permanent home at the Cleveland Zoo in March 1927, where they received a hero's welcome. Their first day in the zoo more than 15,000 people visited the dogs. After Balto's death in Cleveland on March 14 , 1933 , at 11 years old, he was mounted and placed on display in the Cleveland Museum Of Natural History . A statue of Balto was erected in New York City 's Central Park in 1926. EXTERNAL LINKS
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