Gus Kenworthy's puppies: Olympian has 'puppy love' over Sochi's strays
February 13, 2014
Yahoo! Sports said today that the 22-year-old, who picked up the silver medal as part of a U.S. podium sweep in the new Slopestyle sport, plans to rescue dogs – a mother and four pups – that live in a security tent near the Gorki Media Center, about two miles away from the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park skiing venue.
"I'm doing all that I can to try and bring them back with me," Kenworthy said. "They're like the cutest things ever."Kenworthy, as well as many other Olympic athletes, have been buzzing over recent stories regarding thousands of Sochi stray dogs, who have been ordered rounded up and killed by city officials – an attempt to “clean up” the streets of Sochi for the games.
Sochi stray dogs: Dogs smuggled out of Sochi to prevent city contracted killing
“I’ve been a dog lover my whole life and to find the cutest family of strays ever here at the Olympics was just a fairy-tale way to have it go down,” Kenworthy said, shortly after winning his silver today.
He tweeted his intentions Wednesday and, as you might expect, was inundated with positive responses.
According to MSN on Wednesday, animal lovers and animal rights advocates are removing stray dogs and “smuggling” them out of the city before they are rounded up for mass euthanasia.
The International Olympic Committee has responded to the allegations that the city ordered thousands of strays exterminated by stating that no “healthy” dogs are being killed in Sochi, a report that those on the streets decry as being absolutely untrue.
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SOCHI, Russia — If you want to adopt a stray dog from Sochi, the first thing you should probably do is get on a plane to Sochi.
It can be done over the phone and e-mail, said Humane Society International director for companion animals and engagement Kelly O'Meara, but it will require significant cooperation from a local and several layers of logistics that would be much less complicated in person.
The good news, though, is that any American already in Sochi or planning on coming during the Olympic Games can bring home one of the now-famous pups relatively easily and inexpensively in most cases.
SHELTER: For now, there is a home for some
The prevalence of stray dogs — and the local organizing committee's decision to hire a pest control company to kill thousands of them — was a predominant story line in the lead-up to the Olympics. Since then, a temporary shelter backed by a Russian billionaire has opened up just outside of town, and the attention devoted to the issue has inspired many Americans to ask about how they can adopt one of the dogs that survived.
Typically, O'Meara said, the Humane Society encourages Americans to adopt pets domestically, since there are many who need homes. But with Sochi in the spotlight, HSI has posted a point-by-point guide on its Web page detailing how to bring one home from Russia.
"I think it's a situation where everyone's hearing about the very sad and terrible means of killing these dogs and people are feeling a bit helpless in what they can do," O'Meara said in a phone interview Monday. "This is a life-or-death situation for many of them that are being seen in and around Sochi, and that's why people are sort of jumping in and asking how they can help."
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