Kristi Noem - South Dakota

Sunshine Findley • June 15, 2025

Since Gov. Kristi Noem’s disclosure of her farmyard killing spree, everybody’s been focused on Cricket.


That’s understandable. Cricket was a 14-month-old dog. It’s easy to imagine her head jutting out of a pickup window, hair and tongue blowing in the wind. Like many dogs, Cricket probably had a personality and other human-like qualities that we so often attribute to canine companions.


Noem shot and killed Cricket on some undisclosed date years ago for being bad at pheasant hunting and good at chicken hunting. The moral, Noem wrote, is that leaders deal with problems immediately. That makes her a “doer,” she claimed, not an “avoider.”


That’s pure bunk, as millions of people have pointed out in an avalanche of criticism since The Guardian obtained an early copy and revealed some of the contents of Noem’s ironically named memoir, “No Going Back.” The relevant pages have since been shared with South Dakota Searchlight, which requested an advance copy but was ignored; the book’s official publication date is next Tuesday.


Again, the focus on Cricket makes sense, because we can all see that Noem could’ve taken the dog to a shelter and given it another chance at life.


But if you’ll hear me out, I want to tell you why Cricket’s fate is the wrong place to focus your attention.


If you really want to understand Kristi Noem, you need to consider the goat.


‘I spotted our billy goat’


After Noem made the death march to her farm’s gravel pit, where she shot Cricket, she was apparently still in an uncontrollable rage.


“Walking back up to the yard, I spotted our billy goat,” Noem wrote.


The nameless goat’s only sin in that moment was being in Noem’s field of view.


In the book, Noem tried to justify her snap decision to kill the goat by writing that it “loved to chase” her children and would “knock them down and butt them,” leaving them “terrified.” The animal also had a “wretched smell.”


But apparently none of that had been a big enough problem to do anything about it. Not until Noem got angry enough to kill a dog and decided she needed to kill again.


Noem says she “dragged” the goat to the gravel pit, “tied him to a post,” and shot at him. But the goat jumped when she shot.


“My shot was off and I needed one more shell to finish the job,” she wrote.


She studiously avoided saying she wounded the goat with the first shot, but that’s the implication.

“Not wanting him to suffer,” she added — apparently experiencing her first twinge of feeling, after saying that killing the dog was not “pleasant” — “I hustled back across the pasture to the pickup, grabbed another shell, hurried back to the gravel pit, and put him down.”


The goat story not only reflects a disturbing lack of self-control, but also raises a question of law.


The crime of animal cruelty

Noem has defended her shooting of the dog, citing legal justification for her actions. She’s likely referencing a state law that exempts from the definition of animal cruelty “any reasonable action taken by a person for the destruction or control of an animal known to be dangerous, a threat, or injurious to life, limb, or property.”


Read more: https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2024/05/02/noems-dog-killing-was-bad-but-consider-the-goat/


March 26, 2026
Offender First Name: Brigitte Offender Last Name: Muesch Offender Email: — Offender Phone Number:: — Offenders Last Known Address (if you do not have the whole address, please at least provide the City, State and/or Zip Code.: 11560 Dunhill Place Dr Alpharetta, GA 30005 According to Terri Brunson (770-329-1487) from Furkids: She was extremely abusive, says she has no money, no home, does drugs, that her husband was murdered and she had to have these cats. After being declined, she told Amy Hoehne that she is going to the store today and getting the cats. She is French, and speaks with an accent, which could be a helpful clue if she calls/arrives anywhere. My own experience with her: tried to come into the room. She told me "I want Slash and Muffin (cats she wanted to adopt)", so I told her I wasn't letting people in because it's late. She said she wants to see them, and I said no again. She went to the cashier and asked her strange questions and tried to give her candy, and tried to do the same to my sister walking around the store. She has been arrested 4 times, and the most recent arrest is due to criminal trespass and unlawful conduct when in contact with 911. She is once again attempting to adopt cats from Furkids. Googling her name will give you her mugshots and arrest history .  Reporter verified
March 26, 2026
Offender First Name: Alisha Offender Last Name: McDowell Offender Email: amcdowell128@gmail.com Offender Phone Number: +1(646) 500-4877 Offenders Last Known Address (if you do not have the whole address, please at least provide the City, State and/or Zip Code.: 125-60 Sutphin Blvd Apt C-108, Jamaica, NY 11434 Describe details of the offence here. Please be as thorough as possible. Be sure to provide date of the offence if available.: This woman told us twice that she would surrender the kitten back to us because it was simply being a kitten & was "too hyper" She never came in to surrender her and then asked if she can exchange her, which we obviously did not permit. Once we told her we wouldn't exchange the kitten for another, she said she would try to make it work. A few weeks later called for medical history since the kitten continued to be too hyper and she wanted to put her on medication to chill her out which we were completely against. She was angry that we were telling her what to do since she paid $300 for the cat which is clearly ridiculous. Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything about this since there werent clear signs of abuse but in our eyes this was abuse. Months later we have been trying to contact her to get the cat spayed, she finally picked up the phone told me we needed to stop bothering her since she has her own vet but I informed her that the state mandates us to have it done by a certain time and she was upset and said she would call me back. She called me back and told me some bogus story of how the kitten got out and she didn't want to tell me because the last time she spoke to someone they were rude to her. I have no doubt in my mind that this woman purposely let this beautiful kitten out due to her just behaving as a kitten. She is a terrible human being, did not even bother to inform us the kitten went missing because in my eyes, she was the one responsible Reporter verified 
March 26, 2026
Offender First Name: KRISTINE Offender Last Name: HICKS Offender Email: — Offender Phone Number:: — Offenders Last Known Address: HOPKINS COUNTY, TEXAS Attachments: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/deplorable-conditions-and-deceptive-business-practices-lead-federal-charges-under?fbclid=IwY2xjawQxXMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF5TExkY09oZU45RjV4VTlRc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHowvyqmFTG8n8OR-D_EWHE_fVgqOAjw0W8IQEzxPcvpTBmVp5_vhgcIFpsdp_aem_nJyU3MyMbv3e-w6S_pT-6Q Describe details of the offence here. Please be as thorough as possible. Be sure to provide date of the offence if available.: KRISTINE HICKS TIED A DOG NAMED KERRA TO A TREE AND SHOT HER 3 TIMES TILL SHE DIED. SHE HAD A FRIEND VIDEO IT AND POST ON FACEBOOK. Submitted by a verified reporter
March 12, 2026
Offender Name James Michael Duncan Offender E-mail none listed Offender Phone Number none listed Offenders Last Known Address Iron Gate subdivision, Bulloch County Georgia Supporting Evidence - arrest records Details of the offence here Warrants filed against a K9 handler and dog trainer arrested by the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office shed more light on why the K9 deputy is facing animal cruelty charges. James Michael Duncan was arrested on January 27 on eight counts of misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals. Duncan’s arrest was not connected to his employment at the Candler County Sheriff’s Office, but a review of his POST file indicates this was not his first run-in with the law. Animal cruelty becomes a felony if a person maliciously causes the death of an animal, maliciously causes harm to the extent that the animal is dismembered or has a body part rendered useless, maliciously tortures an animal and subjects them to prolonged or severe pain, a person poisons an animal with malice, or when a person withholds food, water, sanitary conditions and the like and it also results in the death or serious disfiguration of the animal. The felony offense is punishable by one to five years in prison and up to $15,000 in fines. Warrants Filed Against Duncan Each of the warrants outline that Duncan was in control of the animals at the time of the offense – listed as January 22, 2026 – at a home in the Iron Gate subdivision. Public records indicate the home is not owned by Duncan. The warrants also state that Duncan deprived the animals of adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, or ventilation, as outlined in the misdemeanor code section – OCGA 16-12-4(b). Each warrant lists a separate animal located during the investigation, including one German Shepherd mix, a Rottweiler mix, three German Shepherds, and three Plott Hounds. Each of the animals were removed from the premises by the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office and/or Bulloch County Animal Control. Duncan was booked into the Bulloch County Jail and released the same day on $10,000 bond, as is standard with misdemeanor offenses. The case will be adjudicated in Bulloch County State Court and Duncan’s scheduled to appear in court in mid-March. As of publishing, Duncan had no listed attorney. The charges stem from Duncan’s private venture and not his work with the Candler County Sheriff’s Office. Since 2019, Duncan has operated a private dog training company – Southern Edge K9 – which operated out of a different property in Bulloch County. Records with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office show 2024 as the last year the company was registered with the state before it was administratively dissolved. Until 2024, the business listed Duncan as the CEO and Joey Coty as the business CFO. In 2024, Coty was removed from the business filings. The Google business listing now shows the business as ‘permanently closed.’ All social media accounts with Southern Edge K9 were deleted shortly before Duncan’s arrest, though tags of the business page on Facebook and social media remain and show his tenure of work in various counties. Terminations and POST Disciplinary Action According to records from the Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council (POST), Duncan obtained his POST certification in 2000 and has worked in law enforcement off and on since that time. He’s been employed by the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, the Millen Police Department in Jenkins County, the Wadley Police Department in Jefferson County, the Evans County Sheriff’s Office, the Screven County Sheriff’s Office, and, most recently, the Candler County Sheriff’s Office. Resigned in Lieu of Termination from the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office POST records show Duncan worked for the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office from 2001 to 2003. After a 22 month hiatus, Duncan was hired by the Millen Police Department where he worked for four months until he was hired by the Wadley Police Department in April 2005. Duncan was employed with Wadley for ten months. Latest Employment POST records show that Duncan was out of law enforcement for approximately thirteen years. In May 2024, he was hired by Candler County as a ‘Reserve Officer.’ After his arrest, the Candler County Sheriff’s Office said Dunan had been “suspended pending the outcome.” As seen in The Georgia Virtue: https://www.thegeorgiavirtue.com/local-news-south-georgia/warrants-shed-light-on-details-of-k9-deputy-charged-with-animal-cruelty/ Submitted by a verified reporter
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