冬奧會(huì)選手愛上流浪狗

Forget Medals, Olympians Vie For Puppy Love

冬奧會(huì)選手愛上流浪狗

Forget official Sochi Olympics merchandise. U.S. athletes at the Winter Games are corralling much more cuddly souvenirs: stray puppies.

Gus Kenworthy, the silver medalist in the 1-2-3 U.S. sweep of the men's ski slopestyle competition Thursday, spent the past two days buying kennels and leashes for a brood -- four young pooches and their mother -- he plans to bring home. The dogs had made their home under a security tent near a media center in the mountains.

Mr. Kenworthy said he visited them daily because he wasn't allowed to bring them into the athletes' village.

'When I was trying to get ready for the contest, it was kind of like a nice distraction, just something keeping my mind off it,' said Mr. Kenworthy, who lives in Denver. He says he started the adoption process more than a week ago.

'They're so cute,' he said of the floppy-eared black-and-brown mutts. 'They're my faves.'

A few days ago, Mr. Kenworthy's tweet of a photo of the four puppies snuggling in his lap became an international sensation, even inspiring a tweet from pop star Miley Cyrus: '4 reasons to follow @guskenworthy.'

Mr. Kenworthy replied to Ms. Cyrus with a reference to one of her hit songs: 'Well this just hit me like a wrecking ball. . .'

American Lindsey Jacobellis had a sour competition experience at the Games, tumbling in the snowboard cross competition in which she was a medal favorite.

But she was all smiles on a Twitter photo, scratching the chin of a black-and-tan mutt with the caption 'me and my pup.' Ms. Jacobellis has completed her adoption of the dog, including a visit to a Russian veterinarian and the purchase of a pet passport, according to her agent Josh Schwartz. She is set to head home with the pooch, which she named Sochi, on Thursday.

The population of pups here boomed because of the flood of construction workers in the area to build Olympic venues, who were feeding them. There are an estimated 2,000 strays in the Sochi area, said a spokeswoman for a recently expanded Sochi pet shelter, PovoDog.

The shelter is funded by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire and aluminum magnate. Americans make up 90% of those contacting the shelter wanting to adopt, the spokeswoman said.

A U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman said he didn't have a tally of the athletes who are trying to adopt Sochi's strays. But based on Olympic athletes' Twitter accounts, many are eager to scoop them up.

The U.S. men's hockey team is full of bruisers who make mill

ions in the National Hockey League, but they are softies when it comes to Sochi's strays. A few hours before the team practiced Tuesday, goalie Ryan Miller tweeted a photo of a white dog with brown ears and black spots lying outside the NHL Players Association house.

'Family hotel mascot!' Mr. Miller wrote. 'Couple stray dogs have been cleaned up and adopted by players.'

David Backes, a forward on the U.S. team, said players from the U.S., Canada and Slovenia have been looking into the feasibility of bringing dogs home from Russia with them. Though it is problematic for players to collaborate with opponents during the Games, some of their wives are banding together to figure out the logistics.

'The wives are kind of creating their own alliance,' said Mr. Backes.

Some have already found shelters in the U.S. willing to take the dogs. But it is unclear whether players will be able to bring them on their charter flights home.

'It's not a short flight,' Mr. Backes said. 'To have them under the belly of the plane for a long time, we want to make sure that all makes sense, too, and that we're not putting them in any harm. There are things we need to check off that list before we go ahead with it.'

Word spread around town this week that Aeroflot had offered to fly Sochi strays to the U.S. for free, but a spokesman said the Russian airline was still working out logistical challenges. A decision would be made Wednesday on whether the airline could accommodate the dogs -- so far 10 and counting -- that people have inquired about flying to the U.S., the spokesman said.

Sochi's strays have become one of the surprise hits of these Olympics, especially with the lack of a breakout individual performance by a two-legged creature on snow or ice. The dogs also have turned a spotlight on the issue of stray animals and adoptions.

On Tuesday, the home page of the Humane Society International featured the headline 'Sochi Travesty' and posted information on how to help street dogs there and elsewhere.

'We have not seen this level of media attention devoted to the street dog issue that I can recall,' Humane Society CEO Andrew Rowan said.

Mr. Backes and his wife, Kelly, founded Athletes for Animals, a charity that promotes pet adoption. Mr. Backes, who plays for the NHL's St. Louis Blues, said he was troubled by news reports of stray dogs in Sochi before he even arrived.

'They kind of were portrayed a little bit as rabid animals that were dangerous,' he said. 'I think you've seen a lot of friendly, smart street dogs that have perhaps had a tough life and have had to find ways to get food and shelter and water.'

He wants to give them a lucky break and see them 'live in that lap of luxury that a lot of dogs in North America have.'

Mr. Kenworthy's furry bounty came along amid his search for one new puppy. About a year ago the shelter mutt he had owned for nearly half his life -- 'my best friend,' he said -- died. Mr. Kenworthy is 22 years old.

The Sochi pups seem perfectly suited to the silver medalist. In addition to being lively, each sports a burst of silver across the chest.

忘了索契冬奧會(huì)的官方紀(jì)念品吧。參加冬奧會(huì)的美國運(yùn)動(dòng)員對(duì)更可愛的紀(jì)念品趨之若鶩：流浪狗。

在2月13日的自由式滑雪男子坡面障礙技巧比賽中摘得銀牌的格斯·肯沃西(Gus Kenworthy)過去兩天都在為一窩流浪狗買狗舍和牽引帶，這窩狗包括四只雜種小狗和它們的媽媽，肯沃西計(jì)劃將它們帶回家。這些狗之前在山區(qū)一個(gè)媒體中心附近的安保帳篷底下安了家。

肯沃西說，他每天去看望它們，因?yàn)樗荒軐⑺鼈儙нM(jìn)奧運(yùn)村。

家住丹佛的肯沃西說，我在為比賽做準(zhǔn)備的時(shí)候，這是種很好的消遣，稍微轉(zhuǎn)移一下我的注意力。他說，他在一周多之前開始了收養(yǎng)程序。

他說起這群耷拉著耳朵、棕色與黑色相間的雜種狗時(shí)說，它們太可愛了，它們是我的摯愛。

幾天前，肯沃西在推特上發(fā)布了四條小狗偎在他腿上的照片，這條消息引發(fā)了國際轟動(dòng)，就連流行歌手麥莉·希拉(Miley Cyrus)也發(fā)布推特消息說，這是關(guān)注肯沃西@guskenworthy的四個(gè)理由。

肯沃西以希拉一首熱門歌曲的歌詞來回應(yīng)：它像破碎球一樣擊中了我……

美國選手林賽·雅各貝利斯(Lindsey Jacobellis)在冬奧會(huì)上的比賽經(jīng)歷令人失望，原本有望奪得獎(jiǎng)牌的她在單板滑雪女子越野項(xiàng)目中摔倒。

但在推特上發(fā)布的一張照片中，她滿面笑容，撓著一條黑底有棕色斑紋的雜種狗，注腳是“我和我的小狗”。據(jù)雅各貝利斯的代理人喬什·舒瓦茨(Josh Schwartz)說，她已經(jīng)完成了小狗的收養(yǎng)程序，包括帶小狗去看一位俄羅斯獸醫(yī)以及購買了寵物護(hù)照。她將于周四與這條被她命名為“索契”的小狗一起回家。

由于大量建筑工人涌入這一地區(qū)修建奧運(yùn)場(chǎng)館時(shí)喂養(yǎng)了這些流浪狗，這里的流浪狗數(shù)量激增。不久前擴(kuò)建的索契寵物收容所PovoDog的發(fā)言人說，索契地區(qū)估計(jì)有2,000條流浪狗。

這個(gè)收容所由俄羅斯億萬富豪、鋁業(yè)巨頭奧列格·德里帕斯卡(Oleg Deripaska)出資。上述發(fā)言人說，與收容所聯(lián)絡(luò)表示希望收養(yǎng)的90%是美國人。

一位美國奧林匹克委員會(huì)發(fā)言人說，他沒有統(tǒng)計(jì)希望收養(yǎng)索契流浪狗的運(yùn)動(dòng)員數(shù)量。但從冬奧會(huì)運(yùn)動(dòng)員的推特賬號(hào)看，很多人都渴望擁有這些狗狗。

美國男子冰球隊(duì)不乏在國家冰球聯(lián)盟(National Hockey League)中賺取數(shù)百萬美元的彪形大漢，但他們面對(duì)索契的流浪狗時(shí)變得溫柔無比。周二該隊(duì)訓(xùn)練前幾個(gè)小時(shí)，守門員賴安·米勒(Ryan Miller)在推特上發(fā)布了一張照片，其中顯示一條白底黑點(diǎn)、棕色耳朵的狗趴在美國國家冰球聯(lián)盟球員協(xié)會(huì)所住的房子前面。

米勒寫道：家庭旅館吉祥物!幾只流浪狗已經(jīng)被洗的干干 ，被運(yùn)動(dòng)員領(lǐng)養(yǎng)。

美國冰球隊(duì)的前鋒巴克斯(David Backes)說，美國、加拿大和斯洛文尼亞的運(yùn)動(dòng)員一直在研究把流浪狗從俄羅斯帶回國的可行性。盡管運(yùn)動(dòng)員們?cè)趭W運(yùn)會(huì)期間與對(duì)手合作可能成問題，但一些運(yùn)動(dòng)員的太太正在聯(lián)合起來想辦法把狗狗運(yùn)回國。

巴克斯說：太太們正在組建她們自己的聯(lián)盟。

一些人已經(jīng)為索契流浪狗在美國找到了收容所。但不清楚運(yùn)動(dòng)員們是否能夠帶著狗狗乘專機(jī)回國。

巴克斯說：這可不是短途飛行。為了讓狗狗們?cè)谪涍\(yùn)艙里能夠待很長時(shí)間，我們還希望確保一切程序都是合理的，不會(huì)使狗狗受到任何傷害。我們帶狗狗回國之前，還需要做一些事情。

索契本周有傳言說俄羅斯航空(Aeroflot)已經(jīng)提出免費(fèi)將索契流浪狗運(yùn)到美國，但該航空公司的一位發(fā)言人說，該公司仍在努力解決物流方面的各種挑戰(zhàn)。該發(fā)言人說，周三該公司將就是否能夠搭載這些狗狗做出決定，目前有人詢問運(yùn)輸事宜的流浪狗共有10只，但數(shù)量仍在增加中。

索契流浪狗出人意料地成為本屆奧運(yùn)會(huì)熱門話題之一，特別是兩足生物在冰雪項(xiàng)目上缺乏突破性的個(gè)人表現(xiàn)之際。流浪狗們還將人們的注意力引向了流浪動(dòng)物和領(lǐng)養(yǎng)問題。

周二，國際人道協(xié)會(huì)(Humane Society International)主頁發(fā)表了一篇題為《索契漫畫》(Sochi Travesty)的文章，發(fā)布了有關(guān)如何幫助索契及其他地方的流浪狗的信息。

國際人道協(xié)會(huì)首席執(zhí)行長羅恩(Andrew Rowan)說：就我所知，我們從未見過媒體對(duì)流浪狗問題投以這樣大的關(guān)注。

巴克斯和太太凱莉(Kelly)創(chuàng)辦了倡導(dǎo)動(dòng)物領(lǐng)養(yǎng)的慈善組織Athletes for Animals。巴克斯效力于美國國家冰球聯(lián)盟 路易斯藍(lán)調(diào)隊(duì)(St. Louis Blues)。他說，早在他抵達(dá)索契之前，就已經(jīng)為有關(guān)索契流浪狗的新聞報(bào)道感到不安了。

他說：它們被描繪成兇猛的危險(xiǎn)動(dòng)物。我認(rèn)為大家看到了很多友好、聰明的流浪狗，它們可能生活艱難，不得不想方設(shè)法找到食物、棲身之地和水。

他希望給它們提供一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，看著它們像北美的很多狗一樣能夠享受蜷在主人腿上的生活。

肯沃西對(duì)索契流浪狗的關(guān)注恰逢他在尋找一只新狗狗。大約一年前，陪伴了他近10年的流浪狗去世了。按他的說法，這只狗是他最好的朋友?？衔治鳜F(xiàn)在22歲。

這幾只索契流浪狗與這位銀牌得主似乎是絕配。除活潑好動(dòng)外，人和狗的胸前都有一道銀色。