South Dakota Gov. under fire for admitting to have killed her dog in new book

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has come under fire recently after reports about a section from her forthcoming book that described her killing her 14-month-old dog.

The report on the section came from The Guardian, which obtained a copy of her upcoming book “No Going Back.”

The book is set to release next month, and in it, the outlet reported that Noem shared in her book a time when she shot her dog after deciding it was “less than worthless” and “untrainable.”

She described grabbing her gun and leading the dog, named Cricket, to a gravel pit before pulling the trigger.

“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,” Noem wrote.

She wrote that after killing the dog, her daughter seemed confused after coming home from school, asking, “Hey, where’s Cricket?”

The Guardian reported that she then went on to describe killing a family goat, which she said was “nasty and mean.” In the book, she says that she took the goat to a gravel pit where her first shot wounded the animal, forcing her to reload and shoot it again, this time killing it.

In response to the report of the upcoming book, Noem has been heavily criticized on social media, forcing the governor to respond.

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” she said in a post to X. “Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

Despite her explanation, several top Democrats have been quick to offer their own thoughts, including Noem’s neighbor, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).

“Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start,” Walz posted on X with a photo of his dog eating ice cream.

The criticism for Noem comes as she remains one of the top contenders for the position of former President Donald Trump’s running mate.