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US slopestyle skier aims to rescue stray dogs in Sochi

U.S. slopestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is not only taking a silver medal home from Sochi; he also hopes to bring back some adorable new friends. On Tuesday, Kenworthy, 22, tweeted two photos of himself holding puppies he said were some of the many strays that have been seen wandering in packs around Sochi during the Games. He followed up with a tweet on Wednesday noting that he is looking into kenne

U.S. slopestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is not only taking a silver medal home from Sochi; he also hopes to bring back some adorable new friends. 

On Tuesday, Kenworthy, 22, tweeted two photos of himself holding puppies he said were some of the many strays that have been seen wandering in packs around Sochi during the Games. He followed up with a tweet on Wednesday noting that he is looking into kennels and vaccinations for the dogs in order to take them home. 

Oh+my+glob,+look+who+I+just+found!+:)+#sochistrays+pic.twitter.com/ne66y7jN6Z

—+Gus+Kenworthy+(@guskenworthy)+February+11,+2014+

puppy+love+is+real+to+puppies.+pic.twitter.com/krauCUPjOg

—+Gus+Kenworthy+(@guskenworthy)+February+11,+2014+

Also,+for+the+people+wondering,+I've+lined+up+kennels+4+the+pups+&+made+vaccination+appointments.+Doing+all+I+can+to+bring+them+home+w/+me!

—+Gus+Kenworthy+(@guskenworthy)+February+12,+2014+

On his Facebook page, under a montage of photos of himself with the puppies, Kenworthy wrote: "Spent all afternoon playing with a gang of stray puppies here in Sochi! Looking into finding a way to bring them home with me but also don't want to take them away from their mama because she was being super cute and protective over them. I bought them some food and I'll go visit them again tomorrow." 

While Kenworthy is doing his small part to help the strays, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has created a dog shelter to help save the animals from potential death. The sudden disappearance of many dogs from the streets last week as the Games got underway had animal activists worried that they were being rounded up and exterminated, according to NBC News

“We were told, ‘Either you take all the dogs from the Olympic Village or we will shoot them,’ ” Olga Melnikova, who is coordinating the rescue effort on behalf of Deripaska's charity, told The New York Times on Feb. 5.