cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20120801
The Guardian obtained a copy of Noem’s soon-to-be released book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.” In it, she tells the story of the ill-fated Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer she was training for pheasant hunting.
On the way home from the hunting trip, Noem writes that she stopped to talk to a family. Cricket got out of Noem’s truck and attacked and killed some of the family’s chickens, then bit the governor.
“At that moment,” Noem writes, “I realized I had to put her down.” She led Cricket to a gravel pit and killed her.
She writes, according to the Guardian, that the tale was included to show her willingness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if it has to be done. But backlash was swift against the Republican governor, who just a month ago drew attention and criticism for posting an infomercial-like video about cosmetic dental surgery she received out-of-state.
That’s incredibly sad and, damn, I’m trying to keep it together reading you. Part of me thinks it’s a blessing to be in a country where non-human life is respected to a reasonable degree. I wrote that thinking about the time a dog bit someone I know when they were a kid and the dog was ordered to be put down by a judge. Apparently that was the rule for any animal that attacked people back then in my country. I don’t know if things have changed nationwide but I do know that you can get 2-5 years in jail here in my city for harming animals now, so progress?
I’m sorry about your lovely dog. It must’ve been awful and I can’t even imagine losing my own pets because I crumble at the thought. My sincere condolences.
Thank you. It was sad, but the two mantras I have about this are “long life, good life,” and “the only alternative to losing them is never having them.” Life happens. It’s okay.
I’ve lost a few animals over the years and personally put down a wild bird too injured to survive (which still haunts me even though I am convinced it was the right thing to do) so my main point was that Noem is a special kind of callous and that vets wouldn’t immediately put down a young bird-dog that got confused about the exact form of hunting it was expected to be part of.