NOS News•today, 07:27
An American governor who describes in her autobiography how she shot her dog 20 years ago continues to stand by that decision, despite the commotion the confession caused this weekend. Kirsti Noem of South Dakota, mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate for Donald Trump, says she did not want to abdicate responsibility.
Noem told the story in her autobiography No going back. It will be published next month, but the British newspaper The Guardian has already obtained a copy and is writing about the event.
Cricket, a 14-month-old German upright, had an “aggressive personality,” according to Noem. She tried to temper that by taking him hunting with experienced dogs, but that only made the animal wilder. “She became very enthusiastic, chased all the birds and had the time of her life.”
The drop
On the way back to her farm, Cricket escaped Noem’s attention and chased the neighbor’s chickens. “She grabbed one after another, bit them to death with one bite and then moved on to the next.” When Noem tried to catch the dog, she was bitten herself.
That was the straw for Noem. She concluded that Cricket was worthless as a hunting dog, untrainable and dangerous to her environment. “I hated that dog,” Noem wrote. “I realized she had to be put down.”
Noem took Cricket and shot her dead. “And when it was done, I realized that there was still an unpleasant job waiting,” Noem continues, before describing how she immediately shot an obstinate goat because it smelled, was “filthy and mean” and pushed Noem’s children around.
‘Disgusting’
“It was not a pleasant job,” Noem explains her actions, but she says it proves that she is willing to get her hands dirty when something needs to be done, in politics just as on the farm. “Even if it is difficult, dirty or unpleasant.”
Not everyone can follow that reasoning. Critics wonder whether there could not have been a more humane solution for Cricket. “Anyone who has owned a hunting dog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is,” responds Democratic politician Ryan Busse, for example.
Responding to the fuss, Noem says they still do https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/1784631108207849781. She points out that dogs that attack livestock can be put down. “I followed the law and took my responsibility as a parent, owner and neighbor.”
