GOP group is forced to cancel Kristi Noem fundraiser after receiving death threats following South Dakota Governor's revelation that she slaughtered puppy for being naughty

A fundraiser featuring South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been cancelled after organizers were sent death threats about her puppy murder.

Noem wrote in her upcoming memoir that she shot her 14-month-old puppy named Cricket dead in her family's gravel pit after it killed chickens.

Her admission created a firestorm that likely torpedoed her chances of being Donald Trump's running mate and had her mocked by other Republicans.

Noem was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the Jefferson County, Colorado, Republicans' annual fundraiser, but it was called off over safety fears.

Jefferson County Republican Party Chair Nancy Pallozzi said her group, Noem, her staff, and the venue got 'numerous threats and/or death threats'.

'After a conversation with the governor's office late Wednesday, we mutually decided that safety was the most important concern for everyone involved,' she said.

'The Denver West Marriott also received alarming comments and shared with us their deep concern over the safety and security for those attending our event, other guests, and their staff.'

Pallozzi said cancelling the event was 'not taking a position on the public outcry on the governor's book', merely accounting for safety.

She said Noem 'has, and continues, to stand up for our constitutional rights, our freedom, and less government, which is the platform of the Republican Party'.

The organization will refund everyone who bought the pricey tickets for the event, and eat the thousands of dollars in costs it can't claw back.

The controversy, which has gotten even her fellow conservatives riled up and angry at her on social media, forced Noem to do damage control.

'I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch,' she wrote on Twitter. 

'The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did.

'As I explained in the book, it wasn't easy. But often the easy way isn't the right way.' 

Noem later told Fox News that Cricket 'massacred' a neighbor's livestock the day it was killed.

'It had come to us from a family who had found her way too aggressive,' she claimed. 

The book, titled No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, will be released on May 7.

In it, Noem wrote about the wirehair pointer she shot at the gravel pit on her family property, moments before her children came home from school.

She claimed Cricket had an 'aggressive personality' that couldn't be tamed - as evidenced by the fact that he ruined a pheasant hunt for being 'out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life'.

Additionally, when the South Dakota governor took Cricket with her to meet a local family the dog started killing the family's chickens like 'a trained assassin.'

According to a book excerpt obtained by the Guardian, Cricket 'grabbed one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another'.

When Noem finally grabbed the dog she wrote that Cricket 'whipped around to bite me'.

Cricket was 'the picture of pure joy'. Meanwhile, the chickens' owner wept.

Noem wrote that she cut a check 'for the price they asked, and helped them dispose of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime.' 

'I hated that dog,' Noem wrote, believing the 14-month-old pooch to be 'untrainable,' 'dangerous to anyone she came in conatct with' and 'less than worthless... as a hunting dog.' 

So she decided to kill Cricket.

'At that moment,' the governor wrote. 'I realized I had to put her down.' 

She shot Cricket at the family's gravel pit. 

'It was not a pleasant job,' Noem said, 'but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.' 

Noem decided to off the family goat as well because he was 'nasty and mean,' as he remained uncastrated and smelled 'disgusting, musky [and] rancid' and 'loved to chase' the governor's children.

She 'dragged him to the gravel pit' as well, but the goat jumped as she tried to shoot him, leaving him briefly alive.

Noem said she had to go back to her truck and retrieve another shell and then 'hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down.' 

Her actions were witnessed, she said, by a construction crew working nearby. Moments later, the bus dropped off her kids. 

'Kennedy looked around confused,' Noem recalled of her daughter, who asked, 'Hey where's Cricket?' 

Noem then admitted, 'I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn't tell the story here.' 

On Friday the internet was buzzing with reactions to her story.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a sharp critic of Trump who used to be his White House communications director, wrote on X that anyone 'who would needlessly hurt an animal because they are inconvenient needs help.'

'I'm a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn't even read it. A 14-month old dog is still a puppy & can be trained. 

'A large part of bad behavior in dogs is not having proper training from the humans responsible for them,' Griffin wrote.