South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is once again defending her decision to kill her puppy amid backlash.
“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days,” she wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
“The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did,” Noem added.
In her upcoming book, Noem describes how she led her 14-month-old family dog named Cricket, to a gravel pit and shot her after she ruined a pheasant hunt by being “out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life” and after she attacked a local family’s chickens.
“I hated that dog,” Noem writes in the disturbing anecdote first reported by The Guardian.
She added that Cricket was “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.”
The Republican governor also revealed she killed a goat in a similar fashion.
Noem previously defended executing her dog and a goat, suggesting it is a necessary part of life on a farm.
She doubled down in Sunday’s post.
“Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle,” she said. “Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”
