South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R), who has been mentioned as a possible Trump vice presidential pick, wrote in her new book that she shot and killed her “untrainable” and “dangerous” 14-month-old wirehair pointer hunting dog named Cricket after it killed a neighbor’s chickens and attacked Noem, as well as a killing a goat the same afternoon.
Noem spoke at a Trump rally in Ohio last month.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) speaks at a campaign ally in Dayton, Ohio for President Trump and Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, March 16, 2024, photo by Kristinn Taylor.
Noem’s book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, is set for release next month, however The Guardian obtained a copy and published a report early Friday morning on Noem writing about killing her dog and goat.
Noem responded to The Guardian report Friday morning, “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years. If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping, preorder “No Going Back””
We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.
If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping,… pic.twitter.com/bKhpUkchHV
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 26, 2024
According to a post by Noem, President Trump endorsed her book earlier this month:
My new book “No Going Back” is my unfiltered vision for America. We’re not going back to the old way of politics – and that’s a good thing!
Preorder your copy here: https://t.co/CCiw1mBkNa pic.twitter.com/6lyjcYkttV
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 15, 2024
Excerpt from The Guardian report:
By taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs, Noem says, she hoped to calm the young dog down and begin to teach her how to behave. Unfortunately, Cricket ruined the hunt, going “out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life”.
Noem describes calling Cricket, then using an electronic collar to attempt to bring her under control. Nothing worked. Then, on the way home after the hunt, as Noem stopped to talk to a local family, Cricket escaped Noem’s truck and attacked the family’s chickens, “grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another”.
Cricket the untrainable dog, Noem writes, behaved like “a trained assassin”.
When Noem finally grabbed Cricket, she says, the dog “whipped around to bite me”. Then, as the chickens’ owner wept, Noem repeatedly apologised, wrote the shocked family a check “for the price they asked, and helped them dispose of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime”.
Through it all, Noem says, Cricket was “the picture of pure joy”.
“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket had proved herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.
“At that moment,” Noem says, “I realised I had to put her down.”
(SKIP)
Noem decided to kill the unnamed goat the same way she had just killed Cricket the dog. But though she “dragged him to a gravel pit”, the goat jumped as she shot and therefore survived the wound. Noem says she went back to her truck, retrieved another shell, then “hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down”.
At that point, Noem writes, she realised a construction crew had watched her kill both animals. The startled workers swiftly got back to work, she writes, only for a school bus to arrive and drop off Noem’s children.
“Kennedy looked around confused,” Noem writes of her daughter, who asked: “Hey, where’s Cricket?”
CNN gave a dramatic reading of The Guardian report:
You’ve got to see this thorough recap of what led up to Kristi “black heart” Noem, coldly shooting and killing her dog Cricket in a gravel pit.
Details you might have missed earlier was that a construction crew witnessed the entire deed. Then a school-bus drove up to the scene… pic.twitter.com/sfGhBzDppP
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) April 27, 2024
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) posted a video Friday afternoon promoting rescue dogs:
Essentia is a lab/shepherd mix who was rescued from the southern border, where the border crisis affects everyone—even our canine friends. Please consider giving Essentia a great home by adopting her from Big Dog Ranch Rescue.https://t.co/2ATqP5DPQN pic.twitter.com/qMO8JD1zUw
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 26, 2024
A podcaster named John Burk is one of the few to come to Noem’s defense, “I read the Noem hit piece. For clarity; in the book she described the dog attacking and killing a friend’s chickens on the way back from a hunting trip. Then when she tried to reel it in, it turned on her to attack. She referenced it as a worthless HUNTING dog. Folks, I’m not a fan of hers either, but context and the entirety of the statement matters. If the dog is untrainable and poses a risk to other humans, you’re risking a lawsuit if it bites someone. You need to put it down. It’s a hard situation either way, but that’s life. Take politics and emotion out of it, she wasn’t wrong. As for the goat, no idea. Didn’t even read that far because it was clear the author was full of it.”
I read the Noem hit piece. For clarity; in the book she described the dog attacking and killing a friend’s chickens on the way back from a hunting trip. Then when she tried to reel it in, it turned on her to attack. She referenced it as a worthless HUNTING dog.
Folks, I’m not a…
— John Burk (@NotJohnBurk) April 26, 2024
Burk added, “She said he wasn’t trainable and she’s trained hunting dogs before. So it really boils down to whether you believe it was or not. She made the call, so be it, but it wasn’t done out of spite like many are claiming. It makes literally zero sense into putting money and effort into raising and training a hunting dog just to kill it for joy.”
She said he wasn’t trainable and she’s trained hunting dogs before. So it really boils down to whether you believe it was or not. She made the call, so be it, but it wasn’t done out of spite like many are claiming. It makes literally zero sense into putting money and effort into…
— John Burk (@NotJohnBurk) April 26, 2024
David Limbaugh asked, “Why did Kristi Noem, a seasoned politician for crying out loud, publish that self damming revelation about her dog. That’s almost as bizarre as the act she confessed to”
Why did Kristi Noem, a seasoned politician for crying out loud, publish that self damming revelation about her dog. That’s almost as bizarre as the act she confessed to.
— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) April 27, 2024
A popular MAGA meme maker posted a purported photo of Cricket with sharp criticism for Noem, “I don’t know who needs to hear this but “there are no bad dogs, only bad owners.” Cricket was only 14 month-old. Kristi Noem doesn’t deserve pets!”
I don’t know who needs to hear this but “there are no bad dogs, only bad owners.”
Cricket was only 14 month-old.
Kristi Noem doesn’t deserve pets! pic.twitter.com/6psLCMfi1c
— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) April 26, 2024
A common view that will put Noem in the hot seat for weeks (and months?) to come. At least she didn’t eat the dog like Barack Obama did (via Daily Caller):
“With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chill peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy). Like many Indonesians, Lolo followed a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths. He explained that a man took on the powers of whatever he ate: One day soon, he promised, he would bring home a piece of tiger meat for us to share.”
The post South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem Stirs Controversy With Tale of Killing Her ‘Untrainable’, ‘Dangerous’ 14-Month-Old Hunting Dog and a Goat appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.