(CLEVELAND) He was a national hero and spent his final days in Cleveland. Balto will get a hero's celebration at Cleveland Museum of Natural History Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Balto, an undersized mix of Siberian Husky, Malamute, possibly wolf, led the final leg of a sled dog run to deliver life-saving diphtheria serum to children in remote Nome, Alaska during a snow storm in 1925.
A Cleveland businessman rescued Balto from a "dime" museum in Los Angeles after two years on the vaudeville circuit. A "penny crusade" among school children raised $2000 to bring Balto to Cleveland for a hero's parade and to live out his final days the Brookside Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo).
Balto currently rests at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, which will hold festivities Saturday, March 2nd. Admission is $17 for adults and $14 for kids.
© 2019 iHeartMedia Photo Courtesy Cleveland Natural History Museum
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