South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defended the shooting of her puppy after his confession sparked massive backlash.
Noem, a potential running mate for Donald Trump, caused a storm after she revealed that she shot the puppy, a 14-month-old baby named Cricket, in her upcoming book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move. America forward.
Responding to Sunday’s backlash, Noem said she “can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old Cricket story.”
The Republican continued: ‘The book is filled with many honest stories from my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions and lessons learned. What I’ve learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota during COVID, is that people look for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from difficult challenges.
‘My hope is that anyone who reads this book understands that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defended the shooting of her puppy after his confession sparked massive backlash.
‘The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs that attack and kill livestock can be euthanized. Since Cricket had shown aggressive behavior towards people by biting them, I decided what he did. Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed my responsibilities on to anyone else to handle. Even if it is hard and painful.
‘I followed the law and was a responsible father, dog owner and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way is not the right one.
Noem claimed she included the story in her book to show her willingness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if necessary.
The Republican writes that he took Cricket on a hunting trip with senior dogs in hopes of calming the feral pup. Instead, Cricket chased the pheasants while he “had the time of his life.”
As former President Donald Trump contemplates who should become his vice president, Noem has written a new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, which will be published on May 7.
On the way home from the hunting trip, Noem writes that when she stopped to talk to a family, Cricket got out of her truck and attacked and killed some of the family’s chickens, then bit the governor.
Noem apologized profusely, wrote the distraught family a check for the deceased chickens and helped them dispose of the carcasses, he writes. She wrote that Cricket “was the picture of joy” as all of that unfolded.
“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, considering her “untrainable.”
“At that moment,” he says, “I realized I had to put her down.”
Noem then remembers taking Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her to death.
That wasn’t all. Noem writes that his family also had a “nasty, bad” goat that smelled bad and liked to chase his children, so he decided to go ahead and kill the goat too.
She writes that the goat survived the first shot, so she returned to the truck, grabbed another shell casing, and then shot it again, killing it.
Shortly after, a school bus dropped off Noem’s children. Her daughter asked, ‘Hey, where’s Cricket?’ Naomi writes.
The excerpts, first published by The Guardian, sparked immediate criticism on social media platforms, where many posted photos of their own pets. President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign released the story on social media along with a photo of Noem with Trump.
A Facebook image shows South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem with a gun. In her next book, she writes about Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, who Noem shot in the gravel pit on her family’s property, moments before her children returned from school.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is photographed with another dog she owned, Hazel, a Vizsla.
The Lincoln Project, a conservative group that opposes Trump, released a video it called a ‘public service announcement’ showing dogs behaving badly and explaining that ‘shooting your dog in the face is not One option’.
“Old dogs, injured dogs, and sick dogs are killed humanely, not by shooting them and throwing them into a gravel pit,” wrote Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project in X. “It’s unsportsmanlike and deliberately cruel… but she wrote this for Prove That Cruelty Is The Point.
Noem previously took to social media to defend herself.
“We love animals, but difficult decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” he said on X.
“Sadly, a few weeks ago we had to put down 3 horses that had been in our family for 25 years.”
Noem claimed she included the story in her book to show her willingness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if necessary.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem during a Buckeye Values PAC rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024.
He urged readers to pre-order his book if they want “more real, honest, politically incorrect stories that will blow the media’s mind.”
Republican strategist Alice Stewart said that while some Republican voters might appreciate the story “as a testament to her resolve,” it ultimately creates a distraction for Noem.
“It never looks good when people think you’re mistreating animals,” Stewart said. “I have a dog that I love like a child and I can’t imagine thinking about doing that, I can’t imagine doing that, and I can’t imagine writing about it in a book and telling everyone about it.”
This is not the first time Noem has gained national attention.
In 2019, he backed the state’s anti-methamphetamine campaign even as he became a target of ridicule for the ‘Meth’ slogan. We’re on that.’ Noem said the campaign got people talking about the meth epidemic and helped some get treatment.