While positioning herself as a potential running mate for Donald Trump, Republican Kristi Noem is also currently facing backlash over some shocking revelations she made in her new memoir about shooting and killing her dog that somewhat had a taste for blood and a goat.
The South Dakota governor’s book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” includes detailed accounts of shooting dead both a misbehaving hunting dog and an aggressive male goat on her family’s property.
The disturbing anecdotes, released ahead of the book’s publication, have been condemned – especially among animal welfare advocates and hunting dog owners.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), calling itself the “Dogmocratic Party,” also released a statement on Friday saying:
“As DNC’s canine companions, we’ve heard a lot from our owners about just how extreme and dangerous Donald Trump and his far-right MAGA allies are — but nothing could prepare us for the truly disturbing and horrifying passages Kristi Noem willingly chose to put in her new book…Our message is plain and simple: If you want elected officials who don’t brag about brutally killing their pets as part of their self-promotional book tour, then listen to our owners — and vote Democrat.”
Kristi Noem’s description of gunning down her “untrainable” 14-month-old wirehair pointer named Cricket after the dog killed chickens on a neighbor’s farm has been deemed unnecessarily cruel by many.
“That’s bullshit. Here’s the thing about pointing dogs like this: All you have to do is give them exercise and expose them to birds. That’s it, but you have to do it almost every day or they go stir crazy,” reacted Democratic candidate Ryan Busse.
Kristi Noem also described tracking down and shooting her family’s male goat in similarly brutal fashion after it became aggressive and smelled foul from not being neutered. The governor admits a construction crew witnessed the twin killings before her own children arrived, asking about Cricket’s whereabouts.
While she has attempted to portray the incidents as simply tough realities of farm life in a post on X: “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” some political opponents view the two incidents as evidence of disturbing lack of empathy and judgment from a potential future vice president.
Also, another dog was spotted as it was abandoned by its owner along the road. The poor dog was captured on camera desperately trying to get back inside its owner’s car.
