Interview with Balto, Son of Aniu and Alosaka; December 6, 1928

INTERVIEWER: Good evening everyone and welcome. Now this evening we have someone who is to become a legend in his own time. Someone who showed the world that anyone can make a difference if you just believe that you can do anything. Someone who defied all the odds and battled through the impossible to save the lives of those who did not deserve to die. He is also a teacher and a wonderful father; and he has helped his children to find their destiny and show them how important friends and family are to this world. We know him as the dog with "Endurance, Fidelity, and Intelligence". The most famous dog in the world. Ladies and gentleman please welcome our guest this evening: The one and only hero of the town of Nome, Alaska: BALTO!!

BALTO: Good evening.

Good evening, Balto. It is an honor to have you with us on the show.

It is an honor to be here, thank you.

Okay, first; whereabouts were you born?

I was born high in the mountains some distance east of Nome.  I think that it was somewhere near Eagle Pass. The wolf pack that my parents and I lived in consisted of about 12 wolves. My mother and father only had me, so far as I know. I was their only child. I remember that my mother was as white as snow, and she had words of such wisdom, heart, and loyalty. She made me feel so safe. As for my father, I never really knew him. Apparently he had been kicked out of the pack by the other wolves shortly before or after I was born. I was then told that he had traveled back to his home town in Nome, where he belonged. He was a husky, it turned out, and my mother was indeed a wolf, so I knew that I was half wolf, half husky.

I understand that you never really knew much about your mother because you got separated from her when you were young, but what did you remember about her?

I remember that she was as white as snow. She was known by many as “The White Wolf”, or “The Great Aniu”. She was the only one who was there for me for the first half a year that I was born. Every night when I went to sleep she would sing me these beautiful lullabies, which would put me to sleep even before she finished the songs. The most common lullaby was a song called “Reach For The Light”, which I remember had the words: “Stand on a mountaintop and see yourself flying” and “Come out of the darkness and find out who you are”. The words in the song were so special, because they were basically saying to get away from what you are afraid of and find in yourself who you really are so that you can make a difference if you just believe. Her warm, gentle voice made me feel so safe. She spoke words of wisdom and nobility; and every time that I felt sad and lonely, she was always there to dry my tears and comfort me. Deep down inside, I believe that she was the perfect mother. She also had this sense of guiding those in need, and to assist others to make their lives worth living.

Did your mother ever tell you anything about your father?

I only wish I could recall every single detail about him that my mother told me, but I was too young to remember. What I do remember from her, however, was that my father’s name was Alosaka, and that he was the lead dog of a sled team. He was a pure bred Siberian husky who was about three years of age when he met my mother.

Did your mother mention how they met?

From what I remember, he was running with the sled team in blizzard conditions in the middle of winter in 1922, but they got lost and buried in the snow near Eagle Pass. Aniu found him barely alive in the middle of the blizzard, and the rest of the team had frozen to death, including their musher. How he was able to withstand exposure to the deadly storm before his rescue, I have no idea. Anyway, Aniu took him into the cave and started to take care of him, but also immediately began having feelings for him. The other wolves saw that he was indeed a husky, and suggested that he did not belong. Aniu protested but the other wolves banished both him and her from the pack. They needed each other because Alosaka loved her like he had never loved anyone before, and Aniu saw him as someone completely different to anyone else: Someone who would love her and support her in the way that she deserved to be supported. Therefore they moved into an abandoned cave around Eagle Pass, and lived together as a two-numbered wolf pack.

Can you remember how your father banished?

The only thing I remember from my mother’s words is that members of her former pack chased him away from the wilderness of the wild just after I was born. Apparently they found out that they had a pup; or pups if more than just me, but I can’t remember any of them if it is true; and banished Alosaka because of what he had done. Technically, it is against the protocol of wolves to mate with dogs. After he was banished, Aniu was left to look after me by herself.

How long were you with her until you were separated?

I was only around half a year old, so it must have been around six months.

What were you thinking at the time when your mother told you that you were in fact a hybrid?

Well first I’ll tell you what she said to me. She told me that my father was in fact a husky, and the fact that because of whom I had become; a hybrid; it might be difficult for me to be accepted into the world. Others might despise me for my crossbreed heritage of wolf and husky and see that I don’t belong with them; especially in the human world where humans would attack and kill me and never accept me as a pet. After she told me that, I started to feel extremely scared about the bad life that was expected to come for me. However, she told me that on the inside there was nothing wrong with me and that there was a way to get through despite who I was. She said to me that you cannot let anyone judge you because of who you are. You must look at yourself on the inside and believe that you are capable of finding a way to become accepted. You just have to believe in yourself and have faith, and then you can do anything. You have to show everyone what you are made of and what you can do. If you can do that, others will think better of you. It was certainly better said than done, that’s for sure, but she strongly believed that I was capable of anything. That is another thing I admired about my mother; her faith. If you don’t have faith in life, you will never be able to get through. I knew then that it was going to be a very tough uphill climb, but because of my mother’s belief in me, I started to become more confident about myself.

How did you and your mother get separated?

It was the day after mother told me about my wolf heritage. It was a stormy night in the mountains in the middle of springtime; when suddenly four wolves decided to invade our cave for shelter and territory. Aniu grabbed me in her mouth while the wolves chased us away. She ran on for a while until she started to get tired. She couldn’t run any faster and the wolves eventually caught up with her and pinned her down. I flew out from her grip and into the snow; and then mother was chased further away in another direction away from me. Feeling the shock that had just occurred and the fact that I had lost her, I gave myself up, lay down in the snow and fainted. I don’t remember anything else. Those wolves probably killed her or chased her away somewhere. I had no idea what happened to her since. I know that she has passed on now but I still don’t know if she lived on for a little while longer or those wolves killed her.

What happened when you regained consciousness?

I was lying on an old abandoned boat on the outskirts of a small town near the ocean, which was Nome, and next to me was this white Russian accented snow goose, called Boris. He looked at me as if he was a concerned parent hoping that I wasn’t dead, and he told me everything that happened. Apparently he had been flying through the snow and found me unconscious. He then picked me up and flew towards the town of Nome with me on his back. I think that he took me there because he was living in Nome for the rest of his life for some reason and he thought that this was the safest place for me to be because it was risky being out in the wilderness on my own. He said that he couldn’t just leave me out there to die. He then asked me where I came from; and I told him everything about my mother and father’s union together; what mother told me about my heritage; and then finished with the separation. He really felt sorry for me about what I had gone through, and he promised to take care of me while I was still young. He really insisted because through his life back at home in Russia and here in the United States of America, he never got the chance to love someone; let alone have children of his own; and he saw a possible sibling in me. So he became my adopted father and I became his adopted son and he and I both lived on the abandoned boat while I was growing up.

What was it like growing up and being raised by a goose?

Well for one thing, it is really a wonder why I don’t honk instead of bark after being with him for so long (laughs). For another thing, it seemed to be a very special connection between us. He seemed to be a pain in the butt at certain times because of the things he would say or do to annoy me, but I just took it as it came because I knew that he was just trying to be a good father, and I was trying to be a good son to him. We both saw that in each other’s eyes and respected each other for it. He showed me how to get a