PETA trolls Kristi Noem with ‘Cricket’s Revenge’ Halloween costume – complete with ‘puppy killer’ camo hat
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s admission that she executed a badly behaved pet dog, has seen animal rights organisation PETA announce a mocking limited edition Halloween costume.
The costume features a mask of Ms Noem’s face with devil horns, a camo hat imprinted with “Noem: Puppy Killer,” and a fake gun.
Titled “Cricket’s Revenge” – a reference to the dead puppy – it will also feature a small stuffed dog to “bite” the neck of the wearer, adorned with a bandanna that reads, “Take a Bite out of Cruelty.”
The costumes are retailing at $79.99 each and are available for preorder at the PETA Shop online. All proceeds will go towards the charity’s work.
It comes amid ongoing controversy, sparked by claims made by Ms Noem – previously tipped as a frontrunner to be Donald Trump’s vice president – in her recently published memoir, No Going Back.
The Governor has received a barrage of criticism for detailing the incident in which she killed her 14-month-old wire-haired pointer Cricket two decades ago.
“I hated that dog,” she wrote in her memoir, detailing that Cricket was “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.
“At that moment,” Ms Noem continued, “I realized I had to put her down.” She admitted that “it was not a pleasant job... it had to be done”.
Seemingly everyone, from X users to comedians to Fox News to Hillary Clinton, has slammed her decision to slay her dog. PETA also criticised Ms Noem at the time.
In a separate statement announcing the new costume, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said: “Anyone cruel enough to blow a rambunctious puppy’s brains out instead of attempting to train her or find her a more responsible guardian is scarier than any horror movie villain.
“With PETA’s Kristi Noem costume, dog lovers everywhere can strike terror in their friends as the most ghoulish monster at their Halloween party.”
Meanwhile, Amazon has prohibited its users from writing reviews for Ms Noem’s new book due to “unusual reviewing activity”.
When a user tries to write a review for the book a notice pops up: “Amazon has noticed unusual reviewing activity on this product. Due to this activity, we have limited this product to verified purchase reviews.”
The book, released on Tuesday, also only has one star on Amazon, as of Wednesday morning.
It’s not immediately clear why the warning appears. The Independent has contacted Amazon and Ms Noem for comment.
