Kristi Noem Dog Killing Controversy

Overview

Kristi Noem Dog Killing Controversy, also known as Kristi Noem's Dog Cricket, refers to a controversial story from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's memoir No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward in which she describes killing a 14-month old dog with a gun. In April 2024, amid speculation about Noem being a possible vice presidential pick for Donald Trump, the story was retold in the media and was frequently circulated in memes, with posters expressing alarm about Noem's treatment of the animal and her willingness to tell the story in a memoir.

Background

In Kristi Noem's telling in her book No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Cricket was an "untrainable" dog that she owned about 20 years ago. After a disastrous pheasant-hunting trip and a tragic run-in with a farmer's chickens, Noem decided that the 14-month-old dog was too aggressive and "less than worthless… as a hunting dog." Noem then wrote that she got her gun, led Cricket to a gravel pit and "put her down."

In a related incident, Noem shot a "nasty and mean" goat in the same gravel pit, but unlike with Cricket, her first shot was not fatal. She returned to her truck to reload, finished off the goat, and realized a group of construction workers had watched her kill both animals. Her children then returned from school, asking where Cricket was. Noem used the stories to illustrate the theme of making hard choices in life.

On April 26th, 2024, The Guardian received an early release copy of Noem's memoir and published a report describing the dog and goat killings detailed in the book.^[1] This was around the time that political chatter about Noem's possible vice presidential prospects picked up online.

The story about her dog was quickly picked up in the media and reported on that same day (example seen below).

Online Reactions

Following the publication of The Guardian article, users on X and other platforms began posting reactions and memes about Noem killing dogs. For example, on April 26th, 2024, X user @IvansStairCam posted a meme (seen below) making reference to an alleged affair Noem had with Corey Lewandowski (which she has denied), earning over 18,000 likes in three days.^[3]

An image of a dog originally posted to Reddit's /r/puppy circulated online in late April 2024, with people attaching it to Cricket, who had died 20 years prior. When the image was reposted to /r/WhitePeopleTwitter (seen below, top) on April 26th, where it received over 28,000 upvotes in three days, the original poster of the /r/puppy image expressed surprise that his dog had spread across the web (seen below, bottom).^[2] The original /r/puppy image, posted in March 2023, received 67 upvotes in a year.^[7]

Noem's first response to the story (seen below, top) emphasized "tough decisions" and proclaimed that if audiences wanted "more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping," they could preorder her book. The April 26th, 2024, post received over 6,700 likes in three days.^[4]

Noem followed it up with another response on April 28th (seen below, bottom) expressing sympathy with people upset by the story of Cricket's death but continuing to defend her actions as just and necessary. The post received 18,000 likes in 24 hours.^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References