A short message about family heritage and a photo of a new hunting dog have put former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem back at the center of an online conversation about a pet she owned years ago.
Noem marked the opening of pheasant hunting season on Saturday with a post on X. The photo shows her beside Foster, her new hunting dog.
Her message framed the sport as something larger than a pastime. She called it a family tradition worth preserving.
“Pheasant hunting is part of who we are, and it’s a tradition worth passing on to our kids and grandkids,” Noem wrote.
The responses quickly moved in another direction. Numerous users brought up Cricket, the 14-month-old dog that Noem said in her memoir she shot and killed.
“Please don’t kill him,” users pleaded in the comments. Those messages revived a controversy that trailed Noem through much of 2024.
Tommy Vietor, a former National Security Council staffer under President Barack Obama, also posted about the photo on X. His comment centered on the dog pictured next to Noem.
“This poor dog is staring at the camera like he’s on death row,” Vietor wrote.
Another user took the joke a step further. That person shared a version of the photo edited with artificial intelligence, altering the image so Foster appeared very concerned.
The reaction traces back to Noem’s 2024 memoir, “No Going Back.” In the book, she recounted taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt, where the young dog failed to behave as expected.
Noem wrote that Cricket killed a neighbor’s chickens during that stretch. She added that the dog tried to bite her when she attempted to restrain the animal.
According to her account, Noem then drove Cricket to a gravel pit and shot her. She described the dog as “untrainable” and dangerous.
The revelation sparked widespread outrage among animal lovers and drew national attention. It landed while Noem was being discussed as a potential running mate for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Noem did not back away from the decision. She defended it as a difficult but necessary choice on a farm, and she said she was tired of politicians pretending to be something they are not.
She also addressed the backlash on X in April 2024, writing that she could understand why some people were upset. “I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket,” she wrote, while still defending herself.
Noem went on to lead the Department of Homeland Security. She left that position earlier this year.
Saturday’s post was meant to showcase a hunting season opener and a new member of the family. The comments beneath it, along with Vietor’s remark and the AI-edited image, kept the focus on the story from her book.
