Noem's dog killing was bad, but to really understand her, consider the goat [View all]
Sure, it chased children, butted them, and smelled bad. So, a goat, Stephen Colbert deadpanned during his Monday monologue on The Late Show, speaking for everybody whos ever been around goats. If those traits meet the legal definition of dangerous, a threat, or injurious to life, limb, or property, killing any goat would always be legally justified.
In reality, what Noem did to the goat dragging it to a gravel pit, tying it to a post, shooting at it once, leaving to get another shell, and shooting it again sounds an awful lot like the legal definition of animal cruelty. That definition in South Dakota law is to intentionally, willfully, and maliciously inflict gross physical abuse on an animal that causes prolonged pain, that causes serious physical injury, or that results in the death of the animal.
Alas, cruelty to animals is a Class 6 felony, and lower-class felonies like that carry a seven-year statute of limitations in South Dakota. We dont know exactly what year it was when Noem shot her dog and goat. She gave a clue in the book when she wrote that her children came home on the school bus the day of the killings and one of them asked, Wheres Cricket? Noem didnt say how she responded, and all of her children are now grown.
If that was more than seven years ago, the goat killing is probably not prosecutable. But no prosecution could do more damage to Noems reputation and career than shes already done to herself by writing about her animal bloodthirst.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/noems-dog-killing-was-bad-really-understand-her-consider-goat