User:Nathan Obral/Balto

Early years

 * Birth date is usually recognized as 1919, no exact date given.
 * Born in Nome.
 * Named after Samuel Balto.

Post-race fame: movies, statues, Vaudeville and sale to a sideshow
Seppala made a similar cross-country tour with Togo and his teammates in 1926, believing that Togo had been deprived of fame and acclaim. Before relocating to Poland Spring, Maine, in March 1927, Seppala claimed Fox, not Balto, was the real leader of his team. After the dispute with Lessner was resolved, Kassan sold Balto and his teammates to Sam Houston, owner of a traveling circus; Kassan then moved back to Alaska, reportedly tiring of the constant traveling. Kassan and Seppala never spoke to each other again.

“Bring Balto to Cleveland”
By February 1927, stories emerged of Balto and six teammates living in the back room of a "for men only" dime museum in Los Angeles also described as a freak show. After leaving the vaudeville circuit, Balto and his team briefly resided at a farm, only to be taken back to the city after misbehaving and entering a chicken coop. Balto and his teammates were displayed chained to a sled, with their only exercise consisting of brief trips in the museum's back alley. They were malnourished, with their ribs showing. Jack Wooldridge of the Oakland Tribune mused over the mistreatment, "[t]here probably was never a more dejected, sorrowful looking lot of malamutes than these as they now appear. Balto will never see the snow again. He's simply an exhibit in a museum."

Cleveland, Ohio, businessman George Kimble visited the dime museum while in Los Angeles after noticing a sign outside advertising "Balto the wonder dog". Outraged seeing Balto and his teammates in poor health, Kimble offered to buy the dogs from Sam Houston, who was willing to sell but demanded $2,000, more than Kimble could personally afford. Kimble reached out to area businessmen and elected officials, along with The Plain Dealer, and assembled the Cleveland Balto Committee, which negotiated with Houston. After Houston agreed to sell the dogs for $1,500, a fund raising campaign was formally announced in the March 1, 1927, Plain Dealer, and the Brookside Zoo promised to create lodging for the dogs. After raising $200 on the campaign's first day, a ten-day option was obtained and the dogs were temporarily relocated to a ranch as a foster home.

Death, mounting and display
The next day, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) agreed to display Balto in taxidermy form. Balto's mounting cost $50 and was again raised through a fund-raising campaign. The process included the placement of Balto's skin and fur over a lifelike form as an effigy, a process that was finished by that May.

Sye, the last of the seven dogs, was reportedly crestfallen over Balto's death, moaning, howling, and refusing to eat. Sye died on March 25, 1934, one year after Balto, and was the only dog to sire offspring. As was the case with Balto, Sye's remains were mounted for display by the zoo; initially displayed over the zoo's tiger enclosure, by 1965, neither the zoo or the museum could locate the remains of Sye, which are now presumed lost. Sye, Balto and Togo were the only three dogs that participated in the serum run to have had their remains mounted. The monument erected at the zoo for the dogs was taken out of public display after Balto died.

Initially displayed then placed in storage for several years, Balto was again put on public display in March 1940, coinciding with a dog show taking place at the Public Auditorium. Displays of Balto were intermittent in the years since, with his remains placed in cold storage at all other times. CMNH had so many animals in their collection that made it difficult to display Balto with greater frequency; in 1975, the Plain Dealer noted Balto's absence as the 50th anniversary of the serum run approached, prompting CMNH to arrange an exhibition.

As part of a larger $150 million renovation project, Balto's remains were refurbished and reinstalled in CMNH's new Visitor Hall, which opened on October 15, 2023. Balto is among the museum's eight most iconic specimens that are represented in the Hall.

Return visits to Alaska
In early 1998, second and third graders at Butte Elementary School in Palmer, Alaska, began a petition drive to return Balto's remains to Alaska after reading about his role in the Serum Run. Teacher Dwight Homstad, who led the effort, viewed the custody of Balto as a two-sided issue, and that the petition was meant to show the emotional attachment Alaskans had toward the dog. Alaskan governor Tony Knowles endorsed the effort, writing to Homstad's class, "During a time of great need in Alaska's history, Balto persevered through treacherous and perilous conditions to save the lives of many Alaskans." Homstad also contracted for a shipping crate to be transported to CMNH containing the petitions and a video made of the students writing the petitions. By July 1998, the Alaska State Legislature passed a formal proclamation supporting Balto's return to Alaska.

CMNH declined both the requests for a permanent return or of shared custody between the cities, citing Balto's purchase by the people of Cleveland, that Balto spent 60 percent of his life in Cleveland, and the fragile condition of his remains. One taxidermist estimated that, if properly cared for, a mounted specimen like Balto's can last for up to two lifetimes.

The Anchorage Museum previously sought to have Balto displayed for an exhibition tied to the 1988 Iditarod.

A second exhibition of Balto took place at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art between March and May 2017; a CMNH registrar accompanied Balto, who was placed in a climate-controlled crate, on the flight to Alaska. Balto and Togo were displayed side-by-side as part of the exhibition.

Film

 * Balto’s Race to Nome (1925)
 * The 1995 animated feature film Balto, directed by Steven Spielberg, is loosely based on Balto and the serum run, but is notable for multiple inaccuracies, including depicting Balto as part-wolf. After Spielberg announced the film was in development, CMNH extended an invitation to the director to meet his mount; a Plain Dealer front page story carried the headline, "Hey Spielberg, your heroic dog's right here." While the movie ended with the Central Park statue unveiling, Random House promised an addition Cleveland-centered chapter to an upcoming novelization.
 * Togo (2019)
 * The Great Alaskan Race (2019)