Yanked from Fluke's Tribute to Balto, which is actually one of the better articles on this issue. The whole article is here, but as for his actual interview, you'll have to take it up with him.
http://fluke.theicecave.org/whitewolf.shtmlQuote:
The wolf is big, much bigger than Balto, its pshysical characterists suggest male, female wolves are much smaller and not so big built. Also to back this up with facts, the Junior Novelisation clearly states that the Whitewolf is male when it refers to it as "He".
But now we come to the truth, if you do not wish to know the details about the original Whitewolf, then stop reading now. I have been intouch with someone who worked on the movie itself, in the London studio and they are very cool indeed. I plucked up the courage to ask them and get an answer to this mystery. This is the answer "the wolf in Balto does symbolise his mother - the part of Balto being a Wolf".
So there we have it, proof that Balto's wolf side comes from his mother, but not that this is his mother. Symbolism is a wonderful thing, a wolf was used in Balto to symbolise his wolf side, but this was a normal wolf, it behaved in the same way that the wolf pack towards the start of the movie did. This wolf was just in the right place at the right time. But the beauty of symbolism and this scene is that it still leaves it open to debate and I am sure that it is one debate that Balto fans will continue to have.
Now what he says about the wolf being masculinely built is true. (We're not going on how REAL wolves are built, we're going to stop that argument right here and now. We're talking about a cartoon here.) As a fellow artist, if I wanted to make something, say an animal, look feminine, I would give it feminine qualities, like what Jenna has. I'd give it a sleek look, and probably larger eyes, at least a slight extension of the eyelashes would suggest this, no matter what the size of the eyes are.
If I wanted to make something look more masculine, I'd make it bigger, bulkier, squarer (in Balto's case). You know, like how guys generally are.
Even from a kid's point of view, watching this movie. Well, since I was brought up Catholic, I believed the wolf to be an angel.
And angels have no gender. And I'm pretty much sticking to that one, but since the most debated topic is whether or not the wolf is male or female, I'm going with my second thought, and saying its male because that's how its built like: a male.
We don't exactly stone our daughters to death when they commit adultery nowadays, so.
ROFL