00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 62(CRA)                                                                             
01 Relating to bringing Balto back to Alaska.                                                                              
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
03  WHEREAS Balto was the lead dog in the final leg of the serum run to Nome in 1925,                                    
04 in which he helped to save the lives of many Alaskans, and, for his efforts, Balto became                               
05 famous and a part of the state's history; and                                                                           
06  WHEREAS Balto was later sold to a side show in the lower 48 states where he spent                                    
07 two years and was poorly treated; and                                                                                   
08  WHEREAS business persons and children from a school raised money to buy Balto,                                       
09 and he was housed in a zoo in Cleveland until he passed away in 1933; and                                               
10  WHEREAS Balto was preserved by a taxidermist and donated to the Cleveland                                            
11 Museum of Natural History where he is only exhibited every other year, and, when not being                              
12 exhibited, is stored in the archives of the museum; and                                                                 
13  WHEREAS Balto and the serum run to Nome inspired the Iditarod Race, and the                                          
14 Wasilla Iditarod Headquarters Museum would like to house Balto, at least on a part-time                                 

01 basis;                                                                                                                  
02  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature believes that Balto should be                                       
03 allowed to come home to Alaska to be housed at the Iditarod Headquarters Museum in                                      
04 Wasilla, Alaska.                                                                                                        
05  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the director of the Museum of Natural                                     
06 History in Cleveland, Ohio; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank                                    
07 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
08 the Alaska delegation in Congress.