Kristi Noem Faces Backlash for Revealing She Shot Her Dog in Memoir

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a potential running Vice President mate for Donald Trump, has faced criticism after an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir revealed that she shot her dog, Cricket.

Describing the dog as “untrainable” and “dangerous,” the Governor of South Dakota detailed the incident in her memoir titled “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” which is set to be released on May 7.

According to a report by the BBC, Noem described the act of shooting her dog in a gravel pit as a necessary but unpleasant task. “It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done,” she wrote. This excerpt was first made public by The Guardian.

Following the online backlash over the story, Noem defended her actions on X, previously known as Twitter. She explained, “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

Noem, who took over her family farm in South Dakota at age 22, shared that the decision to euthanize Cricket came after the dog attacked a local family’s chickens during a return from a pheasant hunt. “I hated that dog,” she admitted in the memoir.

She also recounted a similar incident with a family-owned goat, which she described as “nasty and mean” and “disgusting, musky, rancid.” The goat, she claimed, would chase and knock down her young children. Noem revealed that she ended the goat’s life in the same manner as she did Cricket.

Noem noted in the book that sharing these stories highlighted her readiness to make tough decisions.