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By Alia Shoaib
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has expressed her love of animals after facing intense backlash to the revelation that she once killed her pet dog.
"I loved to be outside, and I was the kid that loved animals," Noem said in a new documentary titled America's Governor: The Kristi Noem Story, that was posted to X, formerly Twitter.
"So from the time I was five, six years old even all the neighbors knew how much I loved animals and would bring me random animals they would find, or needed nursing or taking care of."
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An image of Noem with a small dog appears on screen as she speaks while sentimental music plays in the background.
Noem sparked controversy after she revealed that she had shot her 14-month-old puppy Cricket because he had an "aggressive personality."
The revelation was made in an excerpt that was first published by U.K. newspaper The Guardian from her book No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.
The Trump-allied Republican governor said that she killed the dog after it ruined a pheasant hunt and attacked some chickens.
She wrote that she "hated that dog," describing it as "untrainable" and "dangerous to anyone she came in contact with."
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Noem received bipartisan backlash over the story, with even many Republicans expressing disapproval over the tale.
Cricket was not the only animal to have met its fate at Noem's hands that day—she said she next fatally shot a "nasty and mean" family goat which she said had been a "problem" for years.
The South Dakota governor declared her love of animals in the new 45-minute documentary which was produced by Cleveland-based company Transition Studios.
The documentary features interviews with Noem's immediate family members and colleagues and talks about her upbringing on her family ranch in Hazel, South Dakota.
After the governor's declaration about her love of animals, her mother tells a story about a time Noem rescued a cat. Her brother adds that as a child she loved horses and livestock.
"Even if the livestock sales barn had a donkey or goat or something that went through that nobody bought that day, they would call my dad and say 'does Kristi want this?' So that was my passion and love," Noem said.
Noem was once talked about as a possible contender to be Donald Trump's vice presidential pick for 2024, but her name fell off the list after the animal killing controversy.
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