This story contains descriptions of animal abuse and death.
According to her upcoming book, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) says the time she executed her 14-month-old dog in a gravel pit is an example of how she will do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” in politics.
In a copy obtained by The Guardian, Noem reportedly explains that her dog “Cricket” was a female wirehaired pointer whom Noem had failed to properly teach how to hunt pheasants. One day after Cricket escaped from Noem’s truck and attacked a group of chickens from a nearby farm, Noem explained that she “hated that dog” and knew it was time “to put her down.”
Cricket was not the only pet Noem killed in this way, as she goes on to tell a similar execution story about an enlivened goat that Noem botched the killing of. After the first shot failed to kill the goat, Noem had to leave it there to suffer while she ran to her truck for another bullet.
Noem is on the short list of potential running mates for former President Donald Trump for the general election this November. She has served as South Dakota’s governor since 2019, and she was recently banished by several Native American tribes in her state for accusing them of harboring Mexican cartels on their reservations.