Winter Olympics skier Gus Kenworthy rescues puppy from South Korean dog meat farm

US Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy has rescued a puppy from a South Korean dog meat farm he visited during the PyeongChang games.

The athlete, who also rescued dogs at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, has not walked away from the games with a medal, but instead adopted a new puppy named Beemo with his actor boyfriend Matthew Wilkas.

The American freestyle skier, 26, was visiting a dog meat farm where up to 90 of the animals were being kept in poor conditions. It was in the process of being shut down by the Humane Society International after the puppy farmer had a change of heart.

In a heart-felt Instagram post, Kenworthy, who won silver at the Sochi Games in 2014, said: “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.

“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."

Describing his new pooch, he added: “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!"

The rest of the puppies will be rescued and taken to the US and Canada.

The Siheung farmer told HSI he never intended to sell dogs for slaughter but had no choice when his collection of pet Jindo dogs kept producing puppies.

He eagerly accepted HSI's proposal to buy out his farm, and plans to put those funds into farming mushrooms and other plants.

There were 87 dogs on the farm, which was just off a busy road and about a 45-minute drive from downtown Seoul, as of Friday morning, though new litters of puppies were expected soon.