Topline
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s story about killing her 14-month-old searching canine has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike and grim jokes on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—solely the latest scandal for a controversial Republican governor rumored to be on the shortlist for former President Donald’s vice presidential decide.
Noem is reportedly on the shortlist to function Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee.
Key Facts
Ana Navarro, a former Republican political strategist, mentioned Noem was “auditioning for Cruella De Vil” in a panel on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday morning.
S.E. Cupp, one other Republican pundit who additionally hunts with dogs, identified that “there are 592 other things you can do with a dog that won’t hunt besides kill it in front of your kid and construction workers.”
The night time earlier than, comic Matt Friend mocked Noem in Trump’s voice on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saying he was “killing this dinner harder than Kristi Noem kills the puppies”—drawing gasps from the gang in Washington.
Ryan Busse, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Montana, criticized Noem as a searching canine proprietor on social media, writing “anyone who has ever owned a birddog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is.”
“Our message is plain and simple: If you want elected officials who don’t brag about brutally killing their pets as part of their self-promotional book tour, then listen to our owners – and vote Democrat,” the Democratic National Committee mentioned in a statement within the voice of their dogs on Friday, additionally mentioning Noem’s previous controversial position on forcing little one rape victims to hold pregnancies to time period.
Key Background
Noem recalled the story of killing her 14-month-old searching canine Cricket in an excerpt of her upcoming memoir obtained by The Guardian on Friday. In the excerpt, she known as her canine “untrainable” after she ruined a pheasant hunt and broke right into a neighbor’s rooster coop. In response, Noem mentioned she shot and killed Cricket in a gravel pit in entrance of a bunch of building staff. Her daughter tragically requested the South Dakota governor “Hey, where’s Cricket?” after returning home from faculty that day. Noem defended her actions in a post on X, claiming “we love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.” Noem is reportedly on the shortlist to be Trump’s vice presidential nominee, however has been embroiled in a number of scandals over the past yr, together with a social media post that seems to be an infomercial for a beauty dentistry business in Texas.
Did Kristi Noem Break The Law By Killing Her Puppy?
The Animal Legal Defense Fund ranks South Dakota fortieth within the nation for its legal guidelines defending animals, in what the animal rights group calls the “bottom tier” of states. However, South Dakota’s animal cruelty law nonetheless bans animal homeowners from subjecting an animal to “cruelty,” which it defines as “intentionally, willfully, and maliciously inflict gross physical abuse on an animal that causes prolonged pain, that causes serious physical injury, or that results in the death of the animal.” It is unclear if Noem may face any authorized repercussions—the statute of limitations for Class 6 felonies like animal cruelty solely lasts seven years, and Noem mentioned the incident took place when her grownup daughter was a baby.
