Olympic figure skater rescues dog headed to Korean meat farm

Is there a gold medal in animal rights?

Olympic figure skater Meagan Duhamel of Canada adopted a South Korean dog destined for the dinner table and she’s imploring her fellow athletes to do the same at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

The two-time world champion took home a mini-dachshund named Moo-tae who was supposed to be raised on a Korean dog meat farm and turned into a delicacy, when she visited South Korea last February.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bev6elHBPvf/?hl=en&taken-by=meaganduhamel

EK Park, the founder of an organization called Free Korean Dogs, which facilitates dog adoptions between South Korea and the US and Canada, helped rescue Moo-tae from a dog farm as a puppy and drove him over eight hours to meet Duhamel, who was competing in Pyeongchang last year in a test run for the Olympics.

The Olympian and her husband and coach Bruno Marcotte flew Moo-tae and another dog named Sara to Montreal, where the second pup was adopted by another family.

Roughly 2 million dogs each year are raised on Korean dog meat farms, where they are often locked in cages, beaten or left without food or water.

The Gangwon province where the games are held has 196 registered dog farms.

Koreans have been eating dog soups for thousands of years but the practice has been waning recently, with pet ownership increasing, dog meat markets shuttering and President Moon Jae-in adopting a four-year-old mixed breed named Tory after his election.

Restaurants in Pyeongchang were offered government cash if they stopped selling dog dishes during the games, but some declined, fearing they’d lose loyal customers.

“I have been selling dog meat for decades. It is really difficult for me to change my menu just because of the Olympics,” Park Young-ae, 60, whose Young Hoon Restaurant is nearly in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium, told the Associated Press.

Duhamel, a proud vegan, is glad her pup was saved from the slaughter and said he’s adjusting to his new life.

“Most of the time, he just wants to sit in everybody’s arms,” she said. “He doesn’t even care to play, he just walks up to everybody and wants to be held.”

The pup’s front legs are a bit misshapen because of abuse he suffered as a puppy, but the Sochi winner described him as “strong and calm.”

Duhamel has volunteered to fly back to Montreal with another dog after the Olympics and hopes that fellow athletes will follow suit.

The dog she’ll be flying with is set to be adopted by another family and won’t be coming home with her, because as puts it, “I don’t have the luxury of keeping another dog in my small condo. As much as I would love to.”

With Post wires

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