Former US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is panned over a hunting photo with her new dog and a gun

Critics instantly recalled Cricket, the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer Kristi Noem shot in a gravel pit and wrote about in her 2024 memoir 'No Going Back'. Her post marking South Dakota's pheasant season opener, showing her gripping her dog Foster with a gun in her other hand, racked up more than 340,000 views within hours. It came a day after news broke that she was no longer special envoy to the Shield of the Americas.

Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson posted: 'RIP, Foster. You looked like a good boy.'

Noem had branded Cricket 'untrainable' after the dog ruined a hunt and attacked chickens.