“Heartbroken” Olympian Gus Kenworthy Visits Korean Dog Meat Farm, Adopts Pup

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Freestyle-skiing Olympian Gus Kenworthy has a history of helping dogs.

Four years ago, while competing in Russia, he aided in the rescue of several stray dogs he discovered while in Sochi.

This year, he and his boyfriend, Matt Wilkas, took time out to see for themselves the horrific conditions at one of Korea’s infamous dog-meat farms and decided to take one of the dogs home and “give her the greatest life possible.”

This farm, thanks to the work of Humane Society International, is in the process of being shuttered for good. Its 90 barking residents will be taken from the frightening facility to North American, where they will find forever homes in the U.S. and Canada.

This morning Matt and I had a heart-wrenching visit to one of the 17,000 dog farms here in South Korea. Across the country there are 2.5 million dogs being raised for food in some of the most disturbing conditions imaginable. Yes, there is an argument to be made that eating dogs is a part of Korean culture. And, while don’t personally agree with it, I do agree that it’s not my place to impose western ideals on the people here. The way these animals are being treated, however, is completely inhumane and culture should never be a scapegoat for cruelty. I was told that the dogs on this particular farm were kept in “good conditions” by comparison to other farms. The dogs here are malnourished and physically abused, crammed into tiny wire-floored pens, and exposed to the freezing winter elements and scorching summer conditions. When it comes time to put one down it is done so in front of the other dogs by means of electrocution sometimes taking up to 20 agonizing minutes. Despite the beliefs of some, these dogs are no different from the ones we call pets back home. Some of them were even pets at one time and were stolen or found and sold into the dog meat trade. Luckily, this particular farm (thanks to the hard work of the Humane Society International and the cooperation of a farmer who’s seen the error of his ways) is being permanently shut down and all 90 of the dogs here will be brought to the US and Canada where they’ll find their fur-ever homes. I adopted the sweet baby in the first pic (we named her Beemo) and she’ll be coming to the US to live with me as soon as she’s through with her vaccinations in a short couple of weeks. I cannot wait to give her the best life possible! There are still millions of dogs here in need of help though (like the Great Pyrenees in the 2nd pic who was truly the sweetest dog ever). I’m hoping to use this visit as an opportunity to raise awareness to the inhumanity of the dog meat trade and the plight of dogs everywhere, including back home in the US where millions of dogs are in need of loving homes! Go to @hsiglobal’s page to see how you can help. #dogsarefriendsnotfood #adoptdontshop ❤️?

A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on Feb 23, 2018 at 8:10am PST

Kenworthy posted a series of photos on his Instagram, along with some heart-wrenching observations about the conditions in which he found the dogs.

“I’m hoping to use this visit as an opportunity to raise awareness to the inhumanity of the dog meat trade here in Korea and the plight of dogs everywhere, including back home in the US where millions of dogs are in need of loving homes! Go to @hsiglobal‘s page to see how you can help,” he writes.