A former Washington County veterinarian accused of killing a cat with a bow and arrow and posting a photo on Facebook bragging about it will not be charged with animal cruelty.
An Austin County grand jury returned a “no bill” against Kristen Lindsey on Wednesday, citing “insufficient proof” to charge her.
“After a thorough investigation, Sheriff’s Office investigators were unable to confirm where or when the incident took place,” a news release from Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn said. “Without this information, officers lacked probable cause to obtain a search warrant for any Austin County properties in this matter.”
About 10 demonstrators gathered outside of the Bellville courthouse Wednesday to protest Lindsey’s actions, according to a spokesperson for Koehn’s office. Calls and messages to Lindsey on Wednesday were not returned.
Lindsey posted a photo to her Facebook account in April of her holding up a dead orange and white cat with an arrow through its head accompanied by the caption, “My first bow kill lol. The only good feral tomcat is one with an arrow through it’s head! Vet of the year award...gladly accepted.” The district attorney’s office said “subpoenas to Facebook failed to produce useful evidence” because Lindsey deleted her account before law enforcement was aware of the incident.
“Without more information, the State lacks proof that this incident even occurred in the state of Texas,” the release said. “In some jurisdictions of the United States, hunting stray cats is expressly permitted. In the state of Wyoming, for example, citizens are permitted to hunt stray cats all year with very little restriction.”
The release went on to say that even if the incident did occur in Texas, there was not enough evidence to prove the cat was killed in a cruel manner or that it was killed without its owner’s consent. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, a bolt to the head can be considered a humane way of killing an animal when done properly. The district attorney’s office said that the photo alone did not offer sufficient evidence of whether the cat was killed in an inhumane manner.
After seeing the photo of Lindsey holding up the cat, Amy Hemsell, a Brenham resident, said she noticed the resemblance to her cat, Tiger, who had been missing for a few days at the time. The district attorney’s office said the photo alone was not enough proof that the cat in Lindsey’s photo was Tiger, citing three area residents who recalled seeing a similar cat without a collar that seemed stray.
Whether Lindsey will keep her veterinary license is up to the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. A representative for the board said it does not base its actions off of other institutions, but was not allowed to comment on whether the board was conducting its own investigation.
(21) comments
I may have to just drop my FB account seeing as how FB could not provide them with the evidence. Sure as she gets away with this, she will log back in and get her account back and the evidence will be there. What a sad day. She will also keep her license. May she never practice in the Brazos Valley nor on any of my animals... You know what they say about people who kill animals... that is the making of a serial killer right there!
Taking down her facebook isn't why she "got away" with it. They have the photo just as we do now in our browser history. Its that there is no location tag to the image, and therefore they cannot prove this happened within their jurisdiction. That also just means they cannot peruse an investigation, this is not about bringing charges. If they could prove it was in Texas based on the initial evidence and in Austin county, they would then have to issue warrants to Facebook and for her home/office.
"Deleting your facebook account" won't mean squat if that photo had a landmark in it or was geotagged. Even then this is a misdemeanor, so how much tax payer money should they waste perusing a case they would most certainly go to court for, then have to prove that she was acting with malicious intent (not culling a feral population.)
True, that the didn't need the Facebook page screen shots of which are easily obtained with an image search.
Her mother, Becky Lindsey, posted on her Facebook page that she took the picture. Numerous articles state that she and her husband were visiting Kristen in Texas. And the photo is in her mother's camera or phone, likely even if she deleted it. Why was her mother not brought before the grand jury and asked if she indeed did take the picture as she claimed on Kristen's Facebook page? Why was a warrant not issued for her camera?
This is clearly a case where the DA Travis Koehn chose not to prosecute and likely now, the state vet board will drop the case since they were waiting for local government to act.
This completely undermines any faith in justice, at least in Austin County, TX.
I would never take my animals to her, but I seriously doubt you will take down your FB account. Now if you do, you are way stronger than I.
Absolutely Disgraceful. I have NO FAITH in our legal system when we have fools like this making decisions....NONE.
I thought it was decided the cat was NOT a 'feral tomcat', but belonged to a neighbor who filed the original complaint? Why would the authorities NOT be able to prove the shooting happened in Texas? For heaven's sake, it was a neighbor's cat. I bet her status as a Vet helped sweep this under the rug. Wonder what the result would have been if the neighbor's pet cat had been shot by a young black kid? :(
Are you serious?, nothing would have happened to that kid. Now, if it did, depending on the part of the country, innocent businesses would be vandalized and burned.
Facebook photo was tasteless but I do not see a crime. Feral cats multiply and damage property. Wild dogs are shot daily in the wild. Cat owners get away outside the leash law claiming cats are wild by nature. You can't have it both ways.
I very much doubt that she'll ever practice as a vet again. This case wasn't covered just in the Brazos Valley: it's on the CNN webpage this morning. This will follow her all of her days, as a quick Google search would uncover this whole mess. Speaking of Google, do a quick search of Feral Cat Allies College Station to find out about the wonderful work being done by our vet school to control the feral cat population in a humane way.
I dunno, looks like she controlled the feral cat population in a very humane way. One shot!
I don't know about not being a vet, not sure it would effect my hiring her, cause I love dogs.
Unless it's illegal to kill feral cats in whichever location this took place, I don't think she did anything wrong. However, it was definitely a stupid decision on her part to put this on Facebook. Not because she did something wrong, but because she should have expected it to get blown up like this.
Yep dead on.
Sorry if I missed it, but is it illegal to kill what you think is a feral cat on your own property? Not defending what this lady did, just would like to know for my own purposes.
Got no problem with killing feral cats. Woe be the cat that shows up in my yard.....
Lead article under a five-column head? This is news? It was dumb to post her feat but getting rid of free-roaming "house" cats is a public service.
Interesting story. She showed incredibly poor taste that will haunt her. One would think a vet would have better sense and manners. That said, the fact is feral cats are a problem and should be controlled. Archery practice is not the best way to eliminate them.( Archery hunters: don't even try). The fact this was a neighbors cat compounds the whole thing.
Obvious from the photo and her description that this animal was killed for fun/blood lust as much as any other made up excuse like feral cats are bad. It turns out very likely this was a neighbor's pet.
Good people, especially veterinarians, who genuinely believe they are killing an animal for the benefit of society, don't take pleasure in the act or the aftermath as she clearly does.
As a veterinarian, she is sworn to protect the health and welfare of animals, not to exterminate them with hunting weapons if she thinks they are "bad". What a disgrace to her profession.
Guess you do not know any coon hunters, gar fish hunters, deer hunters etc. These are considered sports and done for pleasure.
This was always going to be a long shot, but so long as she is never allowed to resume the practice of veterinary medicine, I guess some degree of justice will be done.
I hope you are wrong and I doubt she will lose her license. Based on what would it be rescinded?
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