Do you know the true story of Balto, the dog who became a hero? This post tells you what happened and how the story of this friendly Siberian husky came to the big screen.
Do you remember Balto? It was real! The true story of Balto
In 1995 the animated film was released baltoabout an outcast dog in a remote Alaskan town, Name. Her only friends were a snow goose, Boris, and two clumsy polar bears, Muk and Luk.
One day, all the children in the town fell ill with diphtheria and the doctor did not have the necessary medicine, so he sent for a shipment to Juneau, but a winter storm blocked the air and sea passages, making the shipment impossible. The city decides to send a team of sled dogs to look for the medicine, on a journey of more than 900 km by land, and Balto is not chosen because he was a Street dog.
The team manages to get the shipment, but during the return trip the sled guide is knocked unconscious. Balto, along with his friends, decides to go to the rescue, and after thousands of adventures and dangers, he heroically returns with the medicine that saves the lives of all the children.
Balto’s true story has to do with what is known as the “Nome serum run of 1925.” At the beginning of that year, a diphtheria epidemic threatened the lives of the children of the small Alaskan town, which required diphtheria antitoxin.
All hospitals in the area requested her urgently, and the authorities managed to locate her in Anchorage, a distance of more than 1,609 km. The seas were frozen and a huge storm was hitting the region, so they designed a transportation strategy: take the antitoxin by rail from Anchorage to Nenana, and from there it would be picked up by a dog sled team to Nome, traveling an approximate distance. of 1,000 km.
20 participated in this “race”. mushers –or sled guides– and more than 100 dogs, among which was Balto, who was part of Squad B. On that very dangerous journey, several humans and many of the dogs lost their lives.
Upon arriving in Nome, Balto took the glory because, although he was not an animal suitable to be a leader, he managed to accomplish the task and guide the rest of the team. Instead, Togo, the dog that guided most of the course, and the most dangerous, was relegated.
The media at the time applauded Balto, he appeared on the covers of newspapers and magazines, and at the end of 1925, a statue was erected in Central Park in New York with the inscription: “Resistance, Fidelity, Intelligence.”
In 1927 he was taken to the Cleveland Zoo and, along with the other dogs of the “Nome serum run,” spent his final years there. He died in 1933, aged 14.
Balto’s true story was heroic, if a little unfair. There was a lack of recognition for those who guided the team and survived and for the other dogs, like Togo, without whom the mission would have failed.
Do you know another hero dog? We do, and we recommend 5 dogs that have become heroes.