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Statue of Balto

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Statue of Balto
The statue in 2010
ArtistFrederick Roth
Year1925 (1925)
SubjectBalto
LocationNew York City, New York, U.S.

A bronze statue of Balto by Frederick Roth is installed in Central Park, Manhattan, New York. Balto (1919 – March 14, 1933) was a Siberian Husky and sled dog belonging to musher and breeder Leonhard Seppala.[1][2] He achieved fame when he led a team of sled dogs on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease.[3]

Description and history

Located north of the Central Park Zoo near the intersection of East Drive and 67th Street, the sculpture was dedicated on December 17, 1925.[4][5] The statue is a popular attraction: children frequently climb the statue to pretend to ride on the dog.[6] There is a plaque at the base of the statue, which reads:

"Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the Winter of 1925. Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence".[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Thomas, Bob. (2015). Leonhard Seppala : the Siberian dog and the golden age of sleddog racing 1908-1941. Thomas, Pat. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-57510-170-5. OCLC 931927411.
  2. ^ Seppala, Leonhard. (2010). Seppala : Alaskan dog driver. Ricker, Elizabeth M. [Whitefish, Mont.]: [Kessinger Publishing]. p. 295. ISBN 978-1-4374-9088-6. OCLC 876188456.
  3. ^ Salisbury, Gay; Laney Salisbury (2003). The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race against an Epidemic. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 187. ISBN 0-393-01962-4.
  4. ^ a b "Central Park – Balto". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  5. ^ "Balto". www.centralpark.com. 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  6. ^ "Balto". Attractions. Central Park.Com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.