DISQUALIFIER: Noem, Noem on the range…killing puppies
Across America, besides providing loyal companionship, dogs do a variety of jobs, like aiding law enforcement, comforting traumatized students, working on farms, and even sniffing out cancer (at least, in controlled tests).
Other dogs aren’t cut out for employment and instead spend their days accidentally knocking everything off a table with their tails, losing their minds when they see a squirrel, and begging for just one bite of that sandwich.
Unfortunately, sometimes the latter type falls into the hands of a human who can’t see any value in an animal that isn’t doing labor, and the result is a Kristi Noem situation.
Noem, the Governor of South Dakota, has written a book ostensibly on American politics and the future — but bizarrely decided to include the horrible story of the time she killed a dog she deemed “less than worthless.” The Guardian reports:
“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket had proved herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.
The dog, at this point, had “ruined” a pheasant hunt with her overexcitement and then killed several chickens instead.
If Noem instead considered rehoming Cricket with a family that didn’t have any livestock, giving her the opportunity to just be a pet, she doesn’t mention it. Instead, she describes dragging the dog to a gravel pit and — well, you know the disturbing story by now.
After Cricket, Noem grabbed the next animal doomed to meet its demise, a “disgusting, musky, rancid” goat who was guilty of ruining her children’s clothing. This time, the first shot wasn’t enough, and Noem had to leave the animal suffering while she returned to the truck to reload.
Noem’s sense of guilt in her own actions leaks out only as she mentions her surprise to learn that a construction crew had witnessed the acts, and describes her kid coming home to ask where Cricket had gone.
She must have realized, as the responses rolled in, that this story didn’t quite have the impact she was hoping for, though, because she defended herself on social media, writing:
“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.”
Sure enough, other political figures are weighing in. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz posted a photo of himself feeding his dog a treat through a vehicle window, saying:
“Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer shared her pups, too.
Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. https://t.co/X5W61xGISd pic.twitter.com/qFQ63FTBQU
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) April 27, 2024
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was also on board to show himself with a pooch that doesn’t appear to be in fear of bullets and gravel pits. As was Governor Ned Lamont, of Connecticut.
Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. https://t.co/ynHk7B41dX pic.twitter.com/tEsfeONwsN
— Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) April 27, 2024
So far it seems like there’s only one Governor in the U.S.A. who wants to defend brutally ending the life of a puppy instead of taking responsibility for either training the critter or finding it a home that suits its needs.
(Neither the former nor the current Huckabee in office seem to have weighed in.)
At least one member of Congress also joined the storm of reprobation with a heart-wrenching video.
ACT NOW!
For just $.10 a day you can help us save a puppy from Kristi Noem pic.twitter.com/WzuMq5atNi
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 27, 2024
In addition, there’s a video clip going viral of Noem cuddling puppies, with a lot of commenters weighing in to suggest that those babies have no idea what they’re in for.
I'm scared for those puppies. https://t.co/F1108Y3UKB
— Cameron Tousi (@CameronTousi) April 27, 2024
One commenter suggested the clip was filmed as “damage control,” and another worried about the fate of the runt of the litter. Others compared her to the cartoon villain from Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, posting gifs of Cruella de Vil demanding her partners in crime “kill the little beasts” so she can have a Dalmatian coat.
Other public figures had things to share, too. Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, described it as an incident that shows, “This is who they are.”
She further opined that Noem’s story would grab Trump’s approval.
Kristi Noem is telling everybody that she murdered a puppy because she wants to be Donald's VP and she thinks the story will appeal to him.
She's not wrong.
— Mary L. Trump (@MaryLTrump) April 26, 2024
She’s not wrong. The publisher is promoting the book with a review ostensibly from Trump. He’s quoted as saying:
“Governor Kristi Noem is a tremendous leader, one of the best. This book, it’s a winner. It exposes the problems we’re facing and lays out a fantastic plan to make America great again. You’ve got to read it!”
Others are calling out Noem’s defensive response to criticism, as seen below.
There’s no question that sometimes hard decisions are made with animals on farms. They usually don’t involve shooting a family pet and describing its rapturous joy before doing so, along with how much the shooter “hates” the animal.
— Matt Gurney (@mattgurney) April 27, 2024
Just a reminder that you may want to vote for a candidate from a party that doesn’t lionize puppy killers.
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