Trump VP contender, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, defends killing her 14-month-old dog

Kristi Noem, the governor for the US state of South Dakota and possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is making headlines yet again and this time for sharing a story about how she killed her dog and a goat.

‘Aggressive personality’

The disturbing revelation was detailed by Noem, 52, in her upcoming book – No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward –a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian.

In her book, the South Dakota governor admitted to killing her dog named Cricket, a “wirehair pointer, about 14 months old”. The female dog, Noem said, had an “aggressive personality”.

According to the Guardian, the book included the story to show her willingness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if it has to be done.

In the memoir, Noem said she had taken Cricket on a hunting trip with older dogs hoping to calm down the wild puppy. However, the 14-month-old dog chased the pheasants while “having the time of her life”.

On their way back, Cricket got out of Noem’s truck while she had stopped to meet a family andkilled some of their chickens and bit the governor.

Noem repeatedly apologised to the family and wrote them a check while Cricket, according to her, was “the picture of pure joy”.

“I hated that dog,” she wrote and described Cricket as an “untrainable,” “dangerous,” and “less than worthless…as a hunting dog”.

After she had decided to put the dog down, Noem got her gun and led Cricket to a gravel pit. However, her tale of killing animals did not end there. In her book, she also wrote about killing a male goat, which her family owned, and described it as “nasty and mean”.

She also said that the goat smelled “disgusting, musky, rancid” and chased Noem’s children and knocked them down.

The South Dakota governor killed the nameless goat like she killed her dog after leading it to a gravel pit. However, in this case, the goat survived the first shot forcing Noem to go back to her truck to retrieve another shell.

It was around that time that she reportedly noticed that a nearby construction crew had watched her kill both animals.

“Kennedy looked around confused,” the governor wrote, referring to her daughter, who she asked, “Hey, where’s Cricket?”

Noem defends herself

After the report, the backlash against the governor was swift and amid the growing criticism, Noem took to X and said, “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”

She added, “If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping, preorder ‘No Going Back’”.

Noem’s post on X has over 14,000 comments, with many calling on her to resign and others calling her a “monster” or questioning why she didn’t just re-home Cricket.

“Sick, sadistic, puppy killers belong BEHIND BARS,” said one user. Meanwhile, people on social media and even Conservatives who once supported Trump were reportedly horrified.

Noem served as her state’s lone member in the House of Representatives for eight years before she became the first female governor in 2018.

‘Truly disturbing’

Joe Biden’s campaign seized this opportunity and posted images of the US president and VP Kamala Harris, happily interacting with dogs.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) called Noem’s words “truly disturbing and horrifying”.

(With inputs from agencies)