Balto is a four-legged hero and somewhat of a pop culture icon. In January 1925, the small
Alaskan town of Nome suffered by diphtheria (diftheeria) outbreak. The disease mostly struck
children and was spreading very quickly. The illness could easily be contained with a certain
antitoxin, but the town doctors were out of it, so it was threatening the lives of thousands within
and out of the town.
Doctors and town authorities decided to call for help from Anchorage, but this was a mission
(nearly) impossible because it was in the middle of the winter.The only way to provide the required medicine was by dogsleds.
More than twenty sleds have ventured, and among them was Gunnar Kasson with his team leader
Balto – an Alaskan malamute.