Gus Kenworthy and boyfriend Matthew Wilkas are pooch parents once again. On Thursday (August 2), the Olympic freestyle skier took to Instagram to introduce the world to his new furry friend, an adorable pup named Birdie, whom the star athlete adopted from a meat farm in South Korea recently.
“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," Kenworthy captioned the sentimental photo of him holding his puppy-eyed friend. "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.”
The adoption news arrives just two months after the couple grieved the sudden loss of their dog, Beemo, who died in May of a congenital condition that caused her lungs to deteriorate and her heart to enlarge. As like Birdie, the pair had also rescued Beemo from a South Korean meat farm while in PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“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,” Kenworthy carries on in his emotional note, adding that he would continue her Instagram account with "pupdates" on Birdie to commemorate Beemo's memory.
"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," he explained. "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. 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."
Photo: Getty Images