Kristi Noem, Dog Executioner

Some are wondering why South Dakota's Governor included her animal killing spree in her upcoming memoir. "She includes her story about the ill-fated Cricket, she says, to illustrate her willingness, in politics as well as in South Dakota life, to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if it simply needs to be done." There is also a story about a wayward aggressive goat that was dealt with decisively, that is to say with a bullet to the brain.

On Trump's shortlist for running-mate, Noem must think such anecdotes paint in a good light. They don't. Far from it.

Source: The Guardian

“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” the South Dakota governor writes in a new book, adding that the dog, a female, had an “aggressive personality” and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant.

What unfolds over the next few pages shows how that effort went very wrong indeed – and, remarkably, how Cricket was not the only domestic animal Noem chose to kill one day in hunting season.

Noem’s book – No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward – will be published in the US next month. The Guardian obtained a copy.

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