Gus Kenworthy Rescues Another Puppy From Korea

Lori Ennis
by Lori Ennis
Olympic skier and all-around amazing human Gus Kenworthy has adopted a new puppy into their family, just months after his beloved puppy Beemo died of a heart condition.


In May, we told you about Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy’s heartbreak when his precious puppy Beemo died suddenly of a heart condition. Kenworthy and his boyfriend Matthew Wilkas had adopted Beemo from a Korean meat farm he helped shut down when he was in Korea for the winter Olympics.


Related: Olympian Skier Gus Kenworthy Saves 90 Pups From Dog Meat Farm


The pair were devastated when Beemo passed, and much to the delight of all of social media, shared with the world that they’d adopted a new puppy, Birdie, named because their Beemo loved birds so much.


The day Matt and I visited the horrifying dog meat farm in South Korea we witnessed a mother dog giving birth to a litter of pups. The people at @hsiglobal told us that had they not been there filming my visit nobody would've seen the pups immediately and they likely would've died in the brutal cold. Luckily though I saw them and they were rushed inside and saved. A few weeks later when all 90 of the dogs on that farm (including Beemo) were flown to North America that mother and her newborn litter were the only ones that stayed behind because the pups were too young to travel. After Beemo passed away I was feeling completely empty and I reached back out to the Humane Society International to find out what happened to that litter. I found out that they were still in Korea and I began getting photo and video updates on them as I waited for another farm closure and an opportunity for them to be brought to the States. That finally happened and four days ago I picked this little girl up in DC. She's a 5-month-old Jindo/ Lab mix and we named her Birdie (because birds were one of Beemo's favorite things in the world). Nothing in the world could ever replace Beemo or the love that we felt and still feel for her but Birdie has already stolen a new place in our hearts and we're excited to be dog dads again. A HUGE thank you goes out to @hsiglobal for bringing our new baby home and for all they do for animals in need around the world (follow them and support their cause). Also an immense amount of gratitude goes to @awlaarlington for taking care of Birdie in DC until I could fly there to pick her up! I am going to continue Beemo's Instagram with pupdates on Birdie. I was nervous that would seem disrespectful to Beemo's memory but I actually LOVE the idea that both of my beautiful little girls will share the page. Also, a huge part of the reason I started Beemo's page in the first place was to continue promoting animal rescue and raise awareness for the dog meat trade and since the page already has a following I thought it'd be more impactful to keep it going rather than start all over again. Follow along! @b_pups 👨‍👨‍👧🐥🐶🐾❤️ 🇺🇸


A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on Aug 2, 2018 at 7:33pm PDT


Kenworthy shared that when he was in Korea visiting the meat farm from which 90 dogs were saved and flown to North America, he witnessed a mother giving birth to a litter of puppies volunteers told him would likely have died had he not been there. They were saved, though because the puppies were too young to travel to North America at the time, they stayed behind.


He said that he wanted to see what happened to that litter after sweet Beemo died, and reached out to Humane Society International, the rescue group he’d been working with.


Related: Gus Kenworthy Reunited With Gold Medal South Korean Rescue Dog


Thank you for this video @hsiglobal! 🙏🏼 RIP BEEMO! ❤️🌹🐝 I can't even deal with how cute she is in this video and while I'll never not miss her I'm so happy to have another perfect little girl to look after! @b_pups 🐤 🐶


A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on Aug 3, 2018 at 12:29pm PDT


Kenworthy said that he got updates and videos on the litter, and five-month-old Birdie was flown to Washington D.C. from South Korea last week. The adorable pup is a Jindo/Labrador Mix, and Kenworthy said she’ll keep Beemo’s legacy alive as he’ll post ‘pupdates’ of their newest family member. He thinks that using Beemo’s insta account is honoring of Beemo and now Birdie, who now shares a place in their hearts with her big sister.


Awwwww…

Lori Ennis
Lori Ennis

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