Noem blames ‘fake news’ for backlash against her killing a dog and goat

Who’s to blame for the outrage about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s fatal shootings of a dog and goat? “Fake news,” according to her.

Noem, a Republican, appeared Wednesday night on Fox News with anchor Sean Hannity for her first interview since the story broke last week. In his introduction, Hannity said Noem “is being attacked by both Republicans and Democrats, dog lovers and goat lovers.”

Noem replied, “Well, Sean, you know how the fake news works. They leave out some or most of the facts of a story. They put the worst spin on it, and that’s what’s happened in this case.”

In fact, what happened is that Noem chose to disclose the dog and goat story in her book “No Going Back,” which is scheduled to publish next week. The Guardian obtained an early copy and published a news story last Friday under the headline, “Trump VP contender Kristi Noem writes of killing dog – and goat – in new book.”

South Dakota Searchlight has since reviewed the relevant sections of the book and found them to be accurately described by The Guardian.

Noem wrote that she had a 14-month-old wirehair pointer years ago named Cricket, which had come from another family that struggled with the dog’s aggressive personality. The dog went “out of her mind with excitement” during a pheasant hunt with Noem, and later killed a neighbor’s chickens and “whipped around to bite” Noem when she intervened.

So Noem took the dog to a gravel pit and fatally shot it.

“Walking back up to the yard,” Noem wrote, “I spotted our billy goat.”

The “demon goat” often chased and knocked down Noem’s children, and it had a “wretched smell.” So Noem “dragged” the goat to the gravel pit and “tied him to a post.” The goat jumped when she shot, “and I needed one more shell to finish the job,” she wrote. But she didn’t have one, so she hurried back to her pickup, grabbed another shell, went back to the gravel pit, and “put him down.”

Noem wrote that her home was under construction at the time, and the construction crew witnessed her shooting spree “with looks of shock and amazement on their faces.” 

During her interview with Hannity, Noem retold the stories about the dog and goat, and defended her decision to shoot them.

“And the reason it’s in the book is because this book is filled with tough, challenging decisions that I have had to make throughout my life,” Noem said. “And I hope that people understand from this that what the point of the story is, is that most politicians will run from the truth. They will shy away and hide from making tough decisions. I don’t do either of those.”

Noem said state law allows for the killing of dangerous dogs such as Cricket. She did not address the legality of shooting the goat. 

She described the backlash as a continuation of criticism directed at her during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she avoided strict lockdowns.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but one that I hope people understand that they need to hear the truth and not what the media has been spinning,” Noem said. “The media, continuously, through the fake news, does not always tell the truth, and they spin the story. They did the same thing to me during COVID and they’re doing it again here. I hope people buy the book and read the truth.”