South Dakota governor and possible Trump running mate says she made ‘a choice between [my children] and a dangerous animal’
The South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful Kristi Noem asked the American public to consider having to “make a choice between your children or a dangerous animal”, as she again defended her killing of a 14-month-old dog.
“I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation,” Noem told CBS’s Face the Nation about her decision to shoot the dog, named Cricket, after the animal ruined a pheasant hunt and killed a neighbor’s chickens.
“Because that’s what I faced, and I talked about it because what I’m tired of in this country is politicians who pretend to be something that they’re not.”
Asked why she did not surrender Cricket to an animal shelter before killing the dog, about 20 years ago, Noem repeated her prior claims that the creature was simply untrainable, had tried to bite her, and might have bitten others.
Handled poorly. Nipped at or actually bit? Did that happen often? Did your uncle not train the dog? Was there nobody who could take the dog? Was there no vet who could ensure the dog was put down humanely?
Noem’s dog did not bite anyone. She said it tried to bite her a couple times but made no mention that it bit anyone. Same with the billy goat. She said it chased some kids but never mentioned it biting anyone. That one is even worse because it took her two shots to kill it. In reality, she shared the stories to try to seem rough and hardened. I grew up with lots of ranchers and farmers. None of them would do that shit. I have seen a lot of idiots claim that animals on farms are tools and once they are no longer useful, they are gone. I can’t say I have ever come across a rancher or farmer who actually takes that stance especially with a dog.
One of my dogs actually bit me today. He was on my lap and the other dog was barking and he turned and growled. So I nudged him and said, “go on,” which is not uncommmon, and he turned around and bit me. Hard. Didn’t draw blood but it still hurt for quite a while. I bopped him on the nose and sternly said bad boy to him and refused to pet him and he clearly realized he did a bad thing.
I did not then lead him to a gravel pit and shoot him, I let him come back on my lap after a while and started petting him again.
And she knew it was an aggressive dog because the people who gave it to her told her so. She is claiming that she put the dog down for the safety of her children but apparently that was not a concern when she knowingly got an aggressive dog.