BALTO AND TOGO! CLEVELAND'S CONNECTION TO THE FAMOUS SLED DOGS - Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Описание: Today on Doodle The Travel Bug we go to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History to learn the connection between the city of Cleveland Ohio and Alaska's most famous sled dog's, Balto and Togo.
I've grown up in Cleveland and I always wondered why the Cleveland Natural History Museum was the home to stuffed or taxidermy Balto. Why was he not in Alaska? Well, it to a trip to Wasilla, Alaska to start me on my path to discovering the Cleveland connection. The Iditarod Headquarters is located in Wasilla, Alaska. Here is where the taxidermy body of Togo the famous sled dog is located. The employees at the Iditarod Headquarters asked us where we were from and we told them Cleveland, Ohio. They were so excited to tell us how the other American hero sled dog got to be a Cleveland resident.

First a little back story on the dogs. in 1925 Diphtheria spread to the small town of Nome, Alaska. Nome had one doctor who had received a expired case of diphtheria medicine that was no good. Come winter, when children were getting sick and dying, there was no way to get new medicine to the small town. The winter weather prevented the isolated town to be reached by plane or ship. A dog sled relay team was put together. It took 150 sled dogs and 20 mushers 5 and a half days to travel 675 miles across frozen tundra. The serum was delivered successfully. Balto was the lead dog that eventually showed up to the town of Nome and delivered the lifesaving medicine. Balto was in all the papers and became a canine celebrity. Balto got most of the credit but there was maybe a bigger hero in this story and that is Togo. Togo was twice the age as Balto and ran close to 4 times the distance in what was probably the most dangerous leg of the journey. In 2019 Disney came out with a movie of the untold true story of an American Hero tiltled, "Togo".

So back to how Cleveland ties in to all of this. Balto and his sled team were taken on the road as sort of a rock star tour of the lower 48. The dogs were put on stage at a "dime museum" traveling show. They appeared on stage for a few minutes every day and then lived in cages. This is no life for a Husky. Husky's are born to run. A business man from Cleveland saw the dogs in LA and was so upset with what he saw he offered to buy the dogs. The dogs owner was willing to part with them for $2,000. The Cleveland businessman gave the man $100 to hold the dogs for 10 days. He went back home to Cleveland to see if he could raise the rest of the money. He put an add in the Plain Dealer, the local paper, and the city of Cleveland went Balto crazy. Kids saved their lunch money, people in factories passed a hat around and stores had donation boxes. The city raised the money in less than six days and were brought to Cleveland to a hero's welcome, with a parade in Public Square. The dog team was then moved into their new home, The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. At the Cleveland Zoo the dogs were well taken care of and loved on. Here in Cleveland, Balto had a great las six years of his life. When he passed he was stuffed and brought to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Where he is still on display. Occasionally the museum will loan him out to Alaska for special events, like the Iditarod, so Balto and Togo can be on display together.

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has statues outside of their wolf exhibit of Balto and Tago together.

The city of Cleveland gets a bad wrap. You let one river catch on fire one time and nobody lets you forget it. ha ha. We should be known as the city that saves canine hero's and lets them live out their lives with the respect they deserve.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History
1 Wade Oval Dr.
Cleveland, OH 44106

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
3900 Wildlife Way
Cleveland, OH 44109

Special thanks to Lee Gambol the museums educator and Balto historian

Also, thanks to Disney's "Togo" for the movie clips and for telling this wonderful story.

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