Kristi Noem writes about killing animals in new book

Rumored as a potential running mate for Donald Trump, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is under attack after a new book included details of incidents in which she killed a dog and a goat.

Noem's book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, will be released in May 2024, but the Guardian was able to obtain a copy early.

"Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old," Noem wrote, saying that the dog had an "aggressive personality" and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant.

Noem tells the story about how she was heading home with Cricket one time when Cricket decided to kill chickens at a neighbor's house.

The governor decided to write the homeowners a check to cover the cost of the chickens and recalled in her book, "At that moment, I realized I had to put her down."

"It was not a pleasant job," she writes, "but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done."

She then details killing a male goat owned by her family that was "nasty and mean."

Do you think Noem should have omitted these stories from her new book, or are these just the facts of life that need to be told?