Gus Kenworthy made an absolutely heartbreaking announcement over the weekend: his beloved puppy, Beemo, has died.
Kenworthy and his boyfriend Matt rescued Beemo from a dog meat farm in South Korea during the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Since then, he’s been regularly sharing pics and stories about the adorable pup with his 1 million Instagram followers.
Sadly, less than six month later, Beemo has entered doggy Heaven.
Related: Gus Kenworthy has something to say… about eating dogs
In a devastating Instagram post, Kenworthy explains what happened:
Two days ago my beautiful baby Beemo passed away. It was completely unexpected and Matt and I are beside ourselves trying to cope with her loss. For a week or so we’d been worrying because she was showing less and less interest in her food. There were several trips to the vet and on our final visit this past Thursday I asked them do a full body scan in case there was an underlying issue they had missed.
He continues:
Beemo went into a panic attack during the x-rays and her breathing became rapid and shallow. The scan revealed that her lungs were deteriorated and that her heart was too big for her body – a birth defect we had no way of knowing about. Unable to treat her there, I rushed her to the emergency vet where a breathing tube was put down her throat. They hoped that with a respirator breathing for her they could get her vitals back to a normal level so she could be treated but they were never able to do so.
Kenworthy explains the whole thing as “a blur”:
The past two days have been a blur. It all happened so fast that it’s still hard to believe it. The ER doc told us that even if we’d somehow spotted the issue earlier it wouldn’t have made a difference in the end. He said that she’d been living on “borrowed time” from the get go. Beemo was truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I feel so fortunate for our borrowed time together.
Kenworthy concludes his heartbreaking post by saying Beemo will be “deeply missed”, calling her the “kindest, most gentle soul I’ve ever known”:
I’ve never loved anything or anyone in the way that I loved that dog and she is and will always be deeply missed. She was so smart and playful. She brought so much happiness to so many people every single day. I’ll always remember being out on a walk with her and every other second she would get stopped by someone wanting to pet her, kneel down and kiss her, hold her in their arms or take a photo and on many occasions a crowd of people would have formed around her. That was her power: she made people smile. She was the kindest, most gentle soul I’ve ever known. She loved people. She loved birds and the snow. She loved me and Matt. But most of all she loved meeting other dogs. If any of you have pets up in doggy heaven please tell them to go find Bee because she could really use a good play date right now. RIP sweet creature – your daddy loves you more than you could ever even know!
Chrisk
Terrible. I was in absolute shock when I heard this. I cried all weekend. I’m sure the puppy is in dog heaven right now.
oldpluto
Gus, I hope everyone hears you saying it is sooo worth it, to save a pet from the shelter or wherever you can. Millions of dogs and cats deserve a better life than they are in. We all can (I know I have) benefit from saving a life and getting love from newly-saved pets.
herbbtv
Rest In Peace sweet Beemo. Please say hello to our dear friend Sasha who passed away last Sunday of Heart failure. Rest In Peace to both of you. Your friends will miss you greatly.
dwes09
It is truly mind boggling how something like the wolf could have become, through domestication something so much the embodiment of unconditional love as the dog. And in the 20-30,000 years since we domesticated them they have practically become part of our DNA. Once you have had a dog you are never the same whether you go on to have more or not.
I was attacked by a mistreated/mistrained dog when i was 2 years old and was not able to be around them until I got over it at 13 (I still have the physical scars). And have gone on to own dogs, and been “uncles” and caretakers to others. They are amazing animals and can reflect the best or worst of us. I feel for Kenworthy’s loss, and hope he gets another soon.
strix1
So grateful that Gus has brought awareness to the dog meat trade going on throughout the world. His association with HSI and his love for Beemo helped get the message out to a few more people. RIP Beemo…so sorry Gus & Matt had to endure that pain, but hopefully they will be able to rescue another endangered dog from the dog meat trade or from other rescue situation.