Kristi Noem Defends Controversial Admission to Kill Dog in Memoir as Shortlist Candidacy Stays Intact

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has defended herself after facing backlash on social media over admitting in an upcoming memoir, “No Going Back,” due for release next month, that she shot and killed a 14-month-old puppy called Cricket at a gravel pit because the animal had eaten several chickens and was deemed less than worthless and untrainable. While writing on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Governor Noem described the situation in her book stating it wasn’t “a pleasant job but [it] had to be done,” before going onto describe killing a nasty goat at the same location. The governor explained that some people were upset about this 20-year-old story of Cricket, one of their working dogs on the ranch in her upcoming book filled with many honest stories from her life, both good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse expressed anger at Noem’s actions by stating that anyone who has ever owned a bird dog knows how disgusting, lazy, and evil this is; meanwhile, Republican commentator Meghan McCain also criticised Governor 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.” Some contend that Governor Noem’s admission could damage her political career; however, Governor Noem remains on the shortlist of potential vice presidential candidates for Donald Trump’s bid to be president again this November.