South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defends ‘tough decisions’ like killing your own dog in new book

South Dakota Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Kristi Noem responded Friday to a report regarding a section of her upcoming book in which she describes the killing of her 14-month-old dog.

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” she said in a statement. post on above a headline from the Guardian, which obtained a copy of Noem’s upcoming book, “No Going Back.”

The Guardian article describes a section of Noem’s book, due out next month, in which she describes shooting her dog after deciding he was “far from worthless” and “impossible to to draw up “.

In her account, Noem grabbed her gun and led the dog, named Cricket, toward a gravel pit.

“It wasn’t pleasant work, but it had to be done. And once it was over, I realized that another unpleasant job had to be done,” Noem wrote.

She then killed a family goat, which she called “mean and evil.” Noem also led the goat to a gravel pit, where she said her first shot wounded her but did not kill the animal. She got another shell for her gun and killed the goat, according to the book.

Noem wrote that her daughter seemed confused when she came home from school, asking, “Hey, where’s Cricket?”

NBC News has not obtained Noem’s book or independently verified the section reported by The Guardian.

Noem was blasted on social media on Friday; some said they were “horrified“, while others posted photos of their dogs.

The Biden campaign pdared photos of the president walking with the family dog, Commander, who suffered numerous bites, and of Vice President Kamala Harris cuddling a dog.

Noem is widely considered a leading contender to be Trump’s running mate. She is in her second term as governor of South Dakota and was previously the state’s only representative in the House of Representatives.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com