Everyday in central park dogs are allowed to run off leash before 9 am. This is a sight to behold, as the park becomes their backyard. I took Ashby, a seven-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog and in return he introduced me to a monument of his hero, Balto.
Balto, a Siberian Husky, was the lead sled dog during the 1925 diphtheria antitoxin serum run to Nome Alaska. On December 17, 1925 Balto attended, the unveiling of Frederick Roth’s sculpture in New York City. The bronze statue is perched on top of a rock. A low relief plaque on the stone depicts Balto's sled team, and bears the following inscription: “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
The monument is located next to the Willowdell Arch in Central Park. From East Drive and 67th street park entrance follow the path leading north from the Central Park Zoo.
