Kristi Noem’s damage control response to puppy shooting story: She also killed 3 horses

30 April 2024

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) went from having a spot on former President Donald Trump's shortlist of potential running mates to being radioactive after a story in her autobiography about her shooting a puppy in a gravel pit for being a poor hunter went viral. Her response to the story isn't doing her reputation any favors.

In the days following the outrage over the anecdote about how she shot Cricket, her 14-month old family dog, after it killed a neighbor's chickens, Noem has been attempted to convince Americans of her humanity. Amid the ongoing fallout, Noem tweeted "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's Instagram — where she has since limited comments since the puppy story — shows a photo of the South Dakota governor in a gravel pit with a horse, presumably before the animal was killed, along with a backstory about the three horses she killed earlier this year. The South Dakota governor insisted that the horses were arthritic and that putting them down was the compassionate thing to do.

"These horses raised my kids. Taught them discipline, hard work, teamwork, and allowed us to spend hours together as a family enjoying, competing and learning and winning," Noem wrote. "I am grieving this a lot more than I thought I would be. I think I’ll be ok. But, as Ronald Reagan once said 'there is nothing so good for the inside of a man, than the outside of a good horse'. Thank you Tibbs, Dunny, and Loosey. You were absolutely family."

During a recent interview on far-right network Newsmax, host Greta Van Susteren lent a sympathetic ear to Noem to allow her to reminisce about the horses she killed this spring.

"These were our family members. These horses were old. They were in their late, late twenties. They were our rodeo horses, ranch horses. And they raised my girls," Noem said. "They took care of them, and we spent every weekend together with these horses."

Progressive social media influencer @LunaLuvgood2020 didn't buy Noem's account, tweeting that, as a horse owner herself, she personally knew of far less barbaric ways to euthanize an aging horse.

"Horses are sentient animals," she wrote. "This is inhumane, those horses were terrified in their final moments... When I have been forced to put a horse down I call the Vet and alone it is done, with no fear or anguish felt by my horse."

"I have it prepared so they are buried in my field," she added. "I am the one who suffers, not them."

Aside from Cricket and the three horses, Noem's social media also shows other animals that have died at the hands of her and her family. In one photo, Noem's son-in-law is seen smiling while holding up the bloody carcass of a coyote. The Republican governor suggested in the caption of the post that she may turn the animal into a scarf.

Watch the video of Noem's Newsmax segment below, or by clicking this link.

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