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Ugh, yeah, I would get up there and go: "Uhhhh, ummm I wanted ummm, do the? duh, ..../"

I think so but why is Balto so famous? Didn't Togo complete most of the journey?

Yes Togo did the longest run, and was supposed to recieve the medicine half way again, but Seppala kept going and so it looked like Balto had done it

I think they should stay in the museums for now mainly for education purposes, to teach people the story of Balto, Togo, Fritz and the serum run and to get younger generations interested in the subject which in turn will get more people to watch the movie which in turn will get more members on BS which in turn will spread the word about Balto all together, although once the dogs have definately past their best state they should definately be given a heroes burial right next to all the human soldiers because these dogs were just as if not more heroic than them.

Figured I'd chime in here. And will expand upon this question in a new and upcoming thread.

One has to try and remember that, despite the fact that there were twenty teams, with countless strong, hard-working dogs on them, and twenty brave human mushers, it was Gunnar Kaasen's/Balto's team which finished the final leg of the run. Of course, history shows that the number of teams were changed after Leonhard Seppala went rushing out of Nome with his team. The governor of the then territory of Alaska (it was not made a U.S. state until 1959) decided to increase the number of teams in order to not only move things along quicker, but also to see less stress and risk placed on each individual team. Seppala didn't learn of this until after he was already on the way.

In fact, Seppala had no particular love for Balto, which is a shame. He felt Balto was a "B" dog...only good for pulling freight and handling odd jobs. Balto had never led a team before, and Seppala had no intentions of ever letting him do so. All "B" dogs, by tradition with mushers in Alaska, were neutered (or spayed, if females) soon after they were classed (which means the idea of Balto having offspring, in Balto 2 and 3, is a complete fiction. Balto, the real dog, could not have possibly had offspring. Ever.).

Before leaving Nome (with the initial authorization to cover the 640-mile round trip from Nome to the half-way point of Nulato), he assigned his young Norwegian protege Gunnar Kaasen to a team of "relief" dogs (belonging to Seppala), telling Kaasen to be ready to go in case called. Balto was assigned to the team, but not as the leader. Seppala wanted Fox, a more experienced dog, to lead Kaasen's team. He, in fact, specifically instructed Kaasen NOT to use Balto as lead dog. After he left, however, Kaasen made his own changes to the 12-dog team, and must have either seen something in Balto he liked, or merely liked the dog. Because Fox was moved to the number 2 position of the team. And, when spare teams were called up to help relieve Seppala because of a sudden off-shore storm which blew into the area during the last leg of the journey, Kaasen's team set out from Nome, with Balto in the lead.

What is ironic is the hatred many people who are associated with Siberian Huskies feel towards Balto. Or the absolute one-sided belief they had that Seppala was justified in his post-Serum Run hatred of Balto for gaining all the press. Sure...Togo as a lead dog ran farther than any other...well, his TEAM all ran that far, but Togo picked the team through many great dangers, even over the pack ice of Norton Sound itself, as it was breaking up (and during the storm)! But Balto was no lousy dog. He did his part, and did it well. On a few occasions, he smartly avoided some potentially disastrous dangers which would have finished Kaasen's team. And without hardly any training.

Balto didn't deserve Seppala's hatred. Nor anyone else's. And he couldn't have possibly understood it. He was just a sled dog, doing what his breed did best. And he loved every minute of it...like all the other dogs did. If anyone deserved Seppala's vitriol (and he was noted for being quite a feisty, irascible little man), it was the press corps, who solely were responsible for lionizing Balto and ignoring the accomplishments of the other dogs and mushers.

Still, in the end, Togo did get the recognition he deserved. Near the end of a U.S. tour (to mirror that of Balto's team), Seppala and the team were invited to Madison Square Garden in New York City where, before an assembled crowd of American citizens and dignitaries, Seppala drove the team around the floor of the Garden (which I understand was iced over for the purpose), and then Togo himself was presented with a gold medal, celebrating his service in the Serum Run, by the famed explorer Roald Amundsen.

Why oh why do people think it is great too have two heroes stuffed??? You want too see what they looked like? Look at photos and make a model. They are heroes and deserved too be buried, I have very strong opinoins on this, stuffing animals is what hunters do, so why on earth should we do it too heroes??? That is the one thing I am very angry about .If you think I am wrong please tell me why.

I think it was very disrespectufll to stuff them and put them in a museum, if they were the heros that people say they were then there is no need for the bodys to be stuffed just so people could remember them, because by doing what they did should be more then enough for people to remember for as long as they live, also stuffing them well to me it's like keeping them awake in death, other then being buried in the ground to rest in peace.

In a way i am for yes...in a way am i for no too. I voted no though. honestly Balto and Togo should have been buried maybe not in Nome but new york or some big place.

Why New York, Nome care about Balto, New York would not respect him in the same way.

Gang,

You do all realize that you're debating in a vacuum, don't you? What's done is done. Besides...neither Balto nor Togo are present in those shells anymore. In fact, what's mounted is not even most of their mortal remains. And I'm presuming (because of my own personal beliefs) that Balto and Togo (like all other dogs) don't simply cease to exist upon physical death anymore than I believe humans do.

What's left, mounted, is simply their skins...stretched around framework. That's it. (Well, and Togo's skeleton, mounted and stored away at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale).

What these people did was not viewed as disrespectful. They were not mounted as "trophies" of a hunt, like in the case of wild animals. They were mounted out of a desire to keep something of their mortal remains present for people to see after the fact...because people DID love them that much! And still do! The mountings were done out of love...not selfishness or posessiveness. Try to understand that...

Sorry to double-post here, but it is worth noting that Leonhard Seppala is buried in Nome. Even despite the fact that he was Norwegian, and that his hometown bears a monument to him.

I do understand that, I just...I dunno, feel that maybe it was not for the best, even if it was just their skin, they are heroes and I still belive they should have been buried at Nome, you dont need the skin of them on a model too remember what they did for those children.