Donald Trump’s rumoured running mate has defended taking pictures her “untrainable” canine useless after she described killing the household pet in her memoir.
Kristi Noem, 52, the governor of South Dakotastated she “hated” her 14-month old wirehaired pointer, Cricket, who was “aggressive”.
She was unable to coach the animal, Ms Noem stated, who was “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.
Ms. Noem described how she determined the canine needed to be put down after it killed a neighborhood household’s chickens after which “whipped round to bite me” when she tried to regulate it.
In No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, the Republican politician stated she then took Cricket to a gravel pit and shot it.
“It was not a pleasant job. But it had to be done”, Ms Noem wrote, in response to an excerpt obtained by The Guardian.
She then realised “another unpleasant job needed to be done” and proceeded to shoot the household’s “nasty and mean” goat in the identical method.
The goat, nevertheless, wanted to be shot twice.
When the varsity bus dropped her daughter off shortly after, she requested: “Hey, where’s Cricket?”
“I guess if I were a better politician, I wouldn’t tell the story here,” Ms Noem stated.
Online backlash from opponents
Ms Noem’s story sparked a web-based backlash from her political opponents and canine lovers.
“If you want elected officials who don’t brag about brutally killing their pets… vote Democrat,” the Democratic National Committee stated.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, stated: “You can recover from a lot of things in politics, change the narrative etc – but not from killing a dog.”
Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for governor of Montana, stated: “Anyone who has ever owned a bird-dog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is. Damn.”
Ms Noem defended herself in a put up on X, previously Twitter, saying: “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”
She promised extra “real, honest, and politically incorrect stories” in her upcoming e-book.
