'Sick and cruel': Kristi Noem's attempt to defend puppy-killing explodes in her face

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem scrambled Friday to justify her admission to gunning down her family's dog and goat in a gravel pit — by saying she'd also killed horses.

The Republican governor recounted the killings in her forthcoming memoir, "No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward," saying the 14-month-old pup had an "aggressive personality" and proved herself "untrainable."

She recounted how she led the wirehair pointer to a gravel pit and fatally shot it before dragging a “nasty and mean" male goat to meet the same fate.

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, adding that the 14-month-old pup was “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog."

The governor claimed the dog had ruined a pheasant hunting trip by "going out of its mind with excitement" and then attacked a neighbor's chickens on the way home, so she led it and then the goat away to their deaths before her children returned home from school.

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"We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm," Noem posted on X after being hit by widespread condemnation for the killings. "Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years."

She then posted a link to her publisher's website, promising the book offers "more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping."

Noem, who is widely considered a frontrunner to become Donald Trump's running mate in this year's election, faced further criticism in the replies to her X statement.

"Farmers don’t murder puppies," said author Casey Stegman.

"You slaughtered a 14-month-old puppy because it wasn't good at the 'job' you chose for it?," added attorney Jeffrey Evan Gold, suggesting that she had committed a felony under SD § 40-1-2.3. "'No person owning or responsible for the care of an animal may neglect, abandon, or mistreat the animal.' A felony punishable by up to 2 years in prison and $4,000 fine."

"A better person wouldn't have to admit to savagery and an inhumane act against a defenseless puppy," said author Shelby Kent-Stewart. "You're trash."

"You sound like a pretty sick and cruel person to me," said X user Garrett Mottle.