Kristi Noem defends killing puppy

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FILE-Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Maryland on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is defending her actions in killing a puppy, which she discusses in a soon-to-be-released memoir.

Noem received backlash from social media users following The Guardian reporting an excerpt from the memoir "No Going Back," set for release on May 7.

Citing The Guardian, FOX News noted that the governor revealed in the excerpt that she took her 14-month-old female dog, Cricket, to a "gravel pit" near her farm, shooting the animal because it killed and ate several chickens and was "less than worthless," and "untrainable."

In the excerpt, Noem continued saying "It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done," she continued. In the book, Noem also described killing a "nasty and mean" goat at the same gravel pit, according to the report.

The governor responded to the criticism by writing on X, formerly Twitter, "I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old (sic) 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, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned."

Democrats and Republicans expressed anger and outrage at Noem for admitting what she did to her dog.

Ryan Busse, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Montana, posted on social media "Anyone who has ever owned a birddog (sic) knows how disgusting, lazy, and evil this is. Damn."

Republican commentator Meghan McCain also criticized Noem on X writing "You can recover from a lot of things in politics, change the narrative, etc. - but not from killing a dog. All I will distinctly think about Kristi Noem now is that she murdered a puppy who was ‘acting up’ -which is obviously cruel and insane."

Noem is on a shortlist of potential vice presidential candidates for Donald Trump’s bid to be president again this November. But FOX News reported some contend that her admission of killing her dog could damage her political career.

FOX News contributed to this report. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.