Kristen Lindsey of Brenham made the post in June 2015, writing 'My first bow kill... lol. The only good feral tomcat is one with an arrow through its head. Vet of the year award... gladly accepted.'
The post outraged cat fans and led to her being fired from her clinic. Now she is in the middle of a hearing in Austin to decide whether she will keep her vet's license, KAGS reported.
Yesterday, the first day of the hearing, saw Claire and William Johnson claiming the cat was their pet, 'Tiger,' while Lindsey maintained she thought it was feral because of its bad odor and fleas.
She also said it was a nuisance, and had left droppings on her lawn and fought her own pets, KAGS reported.
She said she would not have shot the cat if she'd thought it was owned by someone, and that killing it with a bow and arrow was 'efficient' but not 'appropriate.'
In perhaps the most devastating testimony of the two-day hearing, Dr. Folger testified that the cat seen dangling from the arrow was, in his expert opinion, still alive at the time the photo was taken, given the angle of the cat’s limbs in the picture.
Her attorneys and those from the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners spent most of the day trying to prove whether or not the cat was owned by the Johnsons
In footage captured by KXAN, she appeared to smile when she was asked whether she would shoot another feral cat. 'No,' she said. Would she post the photo on Facebook again? 'God, no,' she said.
A veterinary board committee had already recommended that Lindsey's license be revoked, but she has been able to continue working up until now.
However, she said that while the case has hung over her head, she hasn't been able to actually get work since she was fired from Washington Animal Clinic. 'It’s pretty much put me out of work for a year,' she said, according to KXAN.
'I’m essentially unemployable. I’m not licensed elsewhere, so until I get this resolved... There is not much I can do.'
On the second day of the hearing, KAGS reporter Tashara Park said on her Twitter feed that Houston veterinarian Dr. Bill Folger was called in to analyze the Facebook image.
He said that the cat in the Facebook photo was alive, based on the position of its legs, and added that he was 'shocked, bewildered, that a colleague could kill a cat like this.'
He also said that based on other photos of Tiger on a tractor, he was sure they were the same cat and that the Facebook image was of a neutered male cat that looked too well-fed to be feral.
However a second vet with 47 years of experience, Dr. Paul Smith, said that from the position of the arrow in the cat's head, it must be dead, and most likely died instantaneously.
He added that there was 'no way' someone could tell the cat was alive from that photo.
Other witnesses spoke out on Lindsey's behalf, including a woman who said customers at the clinic 'love' Lindsey.
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| HER MOMMY MUST BE SO PROUD: Ugly hags Mommy is reportedly the one who took the photo |
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| SHE NEEDS TO BE FIRED: Becky Lindsey is among Big Horn County’s longest tenured department heads at the Big Horn County Commission. |
In addition, a veterinary technician from Lindsey's former clinic who said another doctor there told Lindsey to 'take care of' the cat.
Lindsey's lawyers also argued that the dead cat looked like many other ginger tomcats.
Lindsey has also said in the hearing that she has received death threats since the image went viral, and many are hoping for the hearing to end in the vet losing her license.
A Facebook group, 'Tiger's Justice Team News Page,' has been posting updates from the hearing and had previously posted a daily 'Countdown to justice' before it began.
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| RIP Tiger |
Another said, '[I] cannot fathom a vet acting and having no compassion like this Lindsey monster... I just want to kill her.' A later post asked people to 'refrain from profanity or threatening language.'
The page currently has 8,499 followers. Another page, Remembering Tiger, has 11,018 followers.
Lindsey was brought up on animal cruelty charges in June 2015 following the controversy, but a grand jury failed to indict her, saying there wasn't enough evidence.
She had tried to reach an agreement with the medical board regarding her license in March, but they could not come to a decision, leading to this hearing.
The hearing will continue on May 10.
(Daily Mail - April 26, 2016)
Earlier:
- 'Vet of the year' fired after posing holding a dead pet cat she killed with a bow and arrow after 'hunting it down in her backyard'
- Not just one ugly hag in the family: Mom took photo of cat-killer daughter holding 'trophy kill'
- Texas: After bow-shooting a cat in 2015, Kristen Lindsey faces her peers at administrative hearing to determine the fate of her license
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