Balto

Balto sitting down (WildNortonFire.com)

My hero is a dog named Balto, which survived icy cold winds and whiteouts in Alaska to save many lives. In 1925, a race to save the lives of children from a disease made Balto a world wide hero.

Balto's story begins when hundreds of people were incredibly ill with a disease called Diphtheria. But the doctors could not get the medicine all the way to Nome, Alaska. They finally decided to use sled dogs. That is when Balto, the lead sled dog of the team delivered the medicine. On the way, Balto’s team almost died in a blizzard as the temperatures rarely rose above 40 degrees below zero and the winds blew so hard that they could knock over sleds and dogs. Balto saved them! After that, Balto became a celebrity.

I chose Balto as my hero because he is a dog and I really wanted to learn about a dog hero. Secondly, he saved people from dying of Diphtheria and I thought that was amazing.

Balto is a hero because he saved people from dying of Diphtheria. If his sled team had not delivered the medicine, thousands of lives would have been lost. He did this and saved his sled dog team too.

Balto has a special place in our hearts as an animal hero. He lived for about 12 years. When Balto died his body was preserved and displayed at Cleveland's Natural History museum. In 1995, a popular cartoon movie was made about Balto. This added to his fame. Balto's memory and heroic spirit will live on into the future.