Kristen Lindsey, Vet Who Shot Cat With Bow And Arrow, Has Been Denied Partial Retrial


Kristen Lindsey, the Texas veterinarian who earned the disdain of social media users after she shot a cat with a bow and arrow, has been denied a partial retrial. The Inquisitr was the first media outlet to break the story nationally after Lindsey posted the picture of a cat (that most presumed was dead) with an arrow through his head to Facebook. Lindsey quickly claimed that the cat was an unneutered feral cat and that she shot him because she considered him a nuisance for defecating in her yard and fighting with her own pets.

Kristen Lindsey was fired almost immediately that morning in April 2015 from her position at the Washington Animal Clinic, where Kristen worked as a veterinarian, even though she bragged on social media that they would never fire her.

As the nation waited to find out if Lindsey would be arrested for animal cruelty charges, animal lovers were quickly disappointed when she declined to speak with investigators when they first came to her, and she was interrogated many days later after the cat’s body had already been disposed of.

Lindsey, many remember, ultimately faced no animal cruelty charges, even though according to Hill County Paw Pals, in Texas, it is illegal to kill a cat even if it’s a feral cat. The only time it is legal to kill a feral cat, according to Texas law, is if the animal is directly threatening the life of the property owner’s livestock or person. With the body gone, an Austin County grand jury found there was insufficient evidence to charge Lindsey for animal cruelty.

Soon after the story began trending on social media, a woman recognized the cat’s markings and claimed the cat depicted in the Facebook image had the exact same markings as a neighbor Tiger, a neighbor’s cat that had gone missing at the same time.

More than a year later, Kristen Lindsey still faces repercussions from the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners for her decision to kill the cat. Lindsey is fighting to keep her license after the TBVME said she was in violation in the Veterinary Practice Act.

“TBVME Rule of Professional Conduct § 573.4 allows the Vet Board to impose sanctions when a veterinarian violates any Texas law, regardless of a criminal conviction,” Animal League Defense Fund stated.

Feral cats are protected by the Texas animal cruelty law, but the TBVME chose to pursue the classification of animal cruelty that protects an owned cat due to the preponderance of evidence indicating that the cat in question was the same cat that belonged to the neighbor.

Even GoFundMe reportedly refused to help the veterinarian out.

At a hearing that would be used to determine whether the veterinarian would be allowed to keep her license to practice veterinary medicine, an expert witness, William Folger, DVM, MS, DABVP (feline), feline regent for the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, gave testimony that the cat was actually alive at the time the photo was taken, based on the animal’s positioning. Lindsey had stated that the animal died instantly and experienced no pain, but the expert witness’ testimony indicated that the cat must have suffered significant pain before ultimately dying.

Although the AVMA considers a captive bolt shot humane euthanasia, it is only considered humane if the animal has already been anesthetized and if the proximity and precision of the shot meet certain expectations.

Last month, Lindsey’s lawyer filed a motion requesting a partial new trial and asked to have the expert witness’ testimony stricken from the record. On Monday, the administrative law judges denied Lindsey’s motion for the partial new trial.

“Pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, a motion for rehearing must be filed ‘no later than the 25th day after the date the decision or order that is the subject of the motion is signed.’ No decision or order concerning this case will issue until the Proposal for Decision is issued, reviewed, and acted upon by the Board,” the order states.

The TBVME called the request for a partial retrial an “eleventh-hour attempt to discredit a highly reliable, informative expert witness,” according to court documents.

The TBVME alleged that the testimony of the expert witness was “entirely consistent with Petitioner’s position that Respondent has tarnished the practice of veterinary medicine and should no longer be allowed to practice in Texas.” The TBVME also asserted that Lindsey’s motion inaccurately stated that the expert witness’ testimony was “the only evidence” the TBVME presented to prove that the cat the Texas veterinarian shot with the bow and arrow was not an intact male like Lindsey had claimed.

Watch Kristen Lindsey in April as she tried to argue that she should not get her veterinary medicine license revoked.

[PHoto by Fotolia/AP Images]

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