In 1925, 100 years ago, Balto led a team of sled dogs in a blizzard to deliver lifesaving medication to an Alaska town.
His heroic efforts have been recognised in a statue of the dog sitting in New York City's Central Park. Balto (c. 1919 – March 14, 1933) was an Alaskan husky and sled dog bred by musher and breeder Leonhard Seppala.Balto achieved fame when he was reported to have led a team of sled dogs driven by Gunnar Kaasen on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome. Balto's celebrity status resulted in a two-reel motion picture, a statue in Central Park, and a nationwide tour on the vaudeville circuit. When news stories emerged in February 1927 about his poor living conditions, a two-week fundraising effort in Cleveland, Ohio, led to the successful purchase of Balto and his team by the citizenry of Cleveland. Balto lived in ease at the Brookside Zoo until his death on March 14, 1933, at the age of 14; his body was subsequently mounted and displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it remains to this day.