Doomsday

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Veterinarian Fired After Bragging About Killing Cat with Bow and Arrow (WARNING: Graphic Photo)

kristen+lindsey+arrow.JPG

BRENHAM, Texas (KBTX) – A Texas veterinarian is at the center of a social media firestorm, and could face charges, after bragging about killing a cat with a bow and arrow.

Story Updates:
6:44 p.m.
Despite the controversy, fired veterinarian Kristen Lindsey does have supporters in Washington County.

Shannon Stoddard stopped by the Washington Animal Clinic with balloons and a thank you note.

"She's amazing. She’s caring,” Stoddard said. “She’s a good vet, so maybe her bad choice of posting something on Facebook was not good. But I don't think she should be judged for it."

Washington County Resident Preston Northrup said "all these people in the cities just don't understand what goes on in the country and they get in an uproar. They ought to just mind their own business."

4:56 p.m.
Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes says he was disturbed by Dr. Kristen Lindsey's photo.

"This kind of stuff shouldn't happen in our society," Brandes said. "It's a very sad thing. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of it and get the truth, 100% truth, and get it to the DA and put it in his hands if it needs to go any further."

4:45 p.m.
Dr. Kristen Lindsey had been with the Washington Animal Clinic for two years. She graduated from Colorado State University.

4:00 p.m. Alley Cat Allies is offering a $7,500 reward for evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for killing the cat in Austin County.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin County Sheriff's Office at (979)-865-3111.

“Animal cruelty must be taken seriously, and the guilty parties should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Becky Robinson, president and founder of Alley Cat Allies.

3:15 p.m. The cat that was killed with a bow and arrow is believed to be Tiger, a 6-year-old orange Tabby. Tiger went missing Wednesday. Kristen Lindsey posted the picture of the arrow through Tiger’s head at 8:48 p.m. Wednesday night.

2:32 p.m.
Washington Animal Clinic received more than 500 phone calls Friday morning before they fired Kristen Lindsey, DVM.

Shortly before Noon, the clinic put duct tape over her name on the sign.

"Our goal now is to go on and try to fix our black eye and hope that people are reasonable and understand that those actions don't anyway portray what we're for here at Washington Animal Clinic," said Dr. Bruce Buenger. "We put our heart and soul into this place."

12:48 p.m. Animal rescue group says the cat that was killed was not feral. It was owned by an elderly couple.

12:00 p.m. UPDATE: The Washington Animal Clinic in Brenham has fired the veterinarian who bragged about killing a cat with a bow and arrow.

11:11 a.m.
Dr. Kristen Lindsey, DVM posted a picture on her Facebook page of her holding an arrow that is sticking through the head of a dead cat. The post read “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 post quickly went viral and prompted numerous calls to the Brenham Police Department and Washington County Animal Control.

Brenham police say the cat was shot in Austin County. The Austin County Sheriff’s Office tells News 3 they are investigating. Sheriff Jack Brandes says he sent deputies out to New Wehdem Road Friday morning where the incident occurred.

Lindsey works for the Washington Animal Clinic in Brenham. In the comment section of her post, she wrote “no I did not lose my job. Lol. Psshh. Like someone would get rid of me. I’m awesome!”

News 3 contacted the clinic to speak with Lindsey. They told us she is not available and they have no comment about the incident at this time.

The clinic’s website is getting so much traffic that it crashed. Lindsey later removed her post and then pulled down her Facebook page.
Primum non nocere - You don't need to kill these animals, especially when the area you live in has a excellent rescue ranch located not very far from where you made the kill you're so proud of. TRAP and neuter, not thrill-kill.

In this case I definitely support the decision the veterinary clinic that fired this idiot made, and I also hope the state will pull her license if the Sheriff finds it was a case of animal cruelty.

I know, I know - if you want your pet animal to be safe from this kind of harm you should keep it restrained either in your house or on your property, whether you live in a rural setting or a urban one. Keep your pet safe, there's lots of people just like this who won't hesitate to kill it just for the thrill.

But to be a veterinarian and do this, then BRAG about it on facebook, picture and all? Then brag you'll never be fired because of how "awesome" you are?
 
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Let's fire more people and take away their licenses cause of social media!

Grab the pitchforks!!
 

Doomsday

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Let's fire more people and take away their licenses cause of social media!
How's social media at all to blame for this? Wait - it twists people's arms and MAKES them post stupid shit they did? Like the moron banger who posted all about his stolen money, guns and drugs?

LOL

C'mon Man! You expect companies not to FIRE people who do this? What would you have them do instead?
 

Doomsday

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So, had she instead made a poster, a flyer about this with the same text and picture on it, and posted it all over the county on every phone pole, it would be the phone poles to blame.

By your logic.
 

Hoofbite

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Feral animals in neighborhoods don't exist outside of the slums. Too many suburban dickheads that call animal control at the first sight of an unleashed animal for there to be any significant number of feral animals roaming around.
 

Dodger12

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What she did was dumb and maybe she should be made to pay a fine but I don't think being stupid should cause someone to lose their livelihood for the rest of their lives. Young people need to wake up and realize that posting something stupid on social media can follow them for the long time......
 

Doomsday

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Feral animals in neighborhoods don't exist outside of the slums. Too many suburban dickheads that call animal control at the first sight of an unleashed animal for there to be any significant number of feral animals roaming around.
When I first bought my current rural acreage, there were literally 100s of feral cats all over the area. In partnership with the county vet clinic not unlike the one in the story, I trapped well over 300 of them over a three year period. They got "fixed" and distributed to area farms and ranches as barn cats. If there truly is a feral community, it's not really that hard to solve without slaughtering them.
By all means, don't let me derail your outrage.
You seem to believe it matters the vehicle, the way people find out about crap like this and seem to think people like the woman in this story shouldn't be fired because of the way the story got to be known. Please tell me that's incorrect.

I understand your instinctive reaction against "mob outrage" but you also seem to not allow for any of it to also be justified, so long as it's based on what the moron involved posts on their social media account.

There's not supposed to be any outrage when a veterinarian kills domestic pet animals for the thrill of it? When not a half mile away is a shelter purposed exactly to help solve the problem she claims to exist? When humanely trapping the animals is proven to work every time it's tried. And no matter how her employer finds out about it, you don't support their right to fire her ass?

Let me know of the app you seem to think exists, that twists the arm and forces these people to post their stupid shit on social media. I'll wait.

Stop blame shifting.
 

Doomsday

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What she did was dumb and maybe she should be made to pay a fine but I don't think being stupid should cause someone to lose their livelihood for the rest of their lives.
IMO she shouldn't be able to retain her license to practice veterinary medicine, if she is convicted of animal cruelty. This doesn't mean she can't make a fucking livelihood waiting tables or flipping burgers.
 

Dodger12

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IMO she shouldn't be able to retain her license to practice veterinary medicine, if she is convicted of animal cruelty. This doesn't mean she can't make a fucking livelihood waiting tables or flipping burgers.

Yeah, that'll work. The righteous indignation in today's society is over the top and fueled by the visual nature of social media. There's no room for remorse or second chances. We just want people's heads on a silver platter. Fuck that. If I had been caught doing half the stupid shit I did as a teenager or young adult, I wouldn't have a job and you know what, neither would most of us.
 

bbgun

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grossly irresponsible to let your pet roam around without tags. maybe the vet was too quick to ID the cat as feral, but the cat's owner made that mistake possible.
 

Doomsday

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Yeah, that'll work. The righteous indignation in today's society is over the top and fueled by the visual nature of social media. There's no room for remorse or second chances. We just want people's heads on a silver platter. Fuck that. If I had been caught doing half the stupid shit I did as a teenager or young adult, I wouldn't have a job and you know what, neither would most of us.
Blah blah fucking blah. This isn't a teenager, this is a DVM. This is a mature, educated adult who should know better. Plus, you understand we have laws, right? That someone convicted of animal cruelty really shouldn't be licensed as a DVM, right?

Social media has nothing to do with it - the vehicle by which people find out stuff about you, that YOU yourself report, doesn't fucking matter. Had she instead made a poster, a flyer about this with the same text and picture on it, and posted it all over the county on every phone pole, would you be blaming the phone poles?
 

Dodger12

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Blah blah fucking blah. This isn't a teenager, this is a DVM. This is a mature, educated adult who should know better. Plus, you understand we have laws, right? That someone convicted of animal cruelty really shouldn't be licensed as a DVM, right?

Social media has nothing to do with it - the vehicle by which people find out stuff about you, that YOU yourself report, doesn't fucking matter. Had she instead made a poster, a flyer about this with the same text and picture on it, and posted it all over the county on every phone pole, would you be blaming the phone poles?

You ever hear the the phrase that the punishment should fit the crime? She killed a fucking cat. A damn cat roaming loose. She shouldn't have done it nor posted the damn thing on social media. But I hardly think it's a crime to lose your livelihood over. That's bullshit. Besides, she hit the damn thing in the head with a bow and arrow dead on. That accounts for something in my book.

And by the way, has she been arrested? Or are you just applying and interpreting certain laws because that's how you roll?
 

bbgun

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why not just leave it alone? how much damage could it have been doing? they aren't destructive like dogs.
 

Doomsday

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You ever hear the the phrase that the punishment should fit the crime? She killed a fucking cat. A damn cat roaming loose. She shouldn't have done it nor posted the damn thing on social media. But I hardly think it's a crime to lose your livelihood over. That's bullshit. Besides, she hit the damn thing in the head with a bow and arrow dead on. That accounts for something in my book.

And by the way, has she been arrested? Or are you just applying and interpreting certain laws because that's how you roll?
The Sheriff is investigating this by law, as he should. I'm fine with whatever he turns up. You decide to just nibble around the edges of my point and leave out the many IFs it contains.

IF she is convicted of animal cruelty. IF.... Then she shouldn't have a DVM license. That's not robbing her of "livelihood." She can serve cocktails or fucking car hop.
why not just leave it alone? how much damage could it have been doing? they aren't destructive like dogs.
All they want to do is live, and they have every right to live that we have. Killing them for nothing other than bloodsport isn't justifiable at all.
 

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This apparent idea that we should pick and choose what we're "outraged" about based on if it came from social media or not. What exactly IS that? What matter the vehicle?
 

Doomsday

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And it's not like I haven't done my share of animal killing. But never just for thrill, or bloodsport. Humans after all, are the Apex Predator of the planet. But I was raised to value life, and weigh reasons for killing vs. that value. When we would hunt, it was for eating the prey. When we would kill otherwise, it was out of mercy. Except for one incident which I will detail here by way of comparison, making a long story as short as possible.

It's the mid 70s and I'm ten, maybe 12. We live on a small farm in a rural area where I was just a plowboy, stock tender and overall farm hand. We raised cattle, horses, hogs and poultry - chickens and turkeys. We tended and maintained a very large vegetable garden. Most everything we raised was for our own consumption, freezer, or cannery. Except for the hogs and cattle, of which we would select a certain amount of them for slaughter and processing in town, for sale to the public after processing.

Anyhow, the poultry. We had something like 20 turkeys, and 50 or so chickens at any given time. Late one night a large pack of feral dogs attacked the pens, got in and killed nearly all the birds. They didn't eat anything at all, just killed them for bloodsport. Tore them open and eviscerated them. Tossed them around and played with them. But ate, very little to nothing. My step dad calculated from the amount of tracks there must have been 20 or so of them in the pack. This is a pack of wild dogs going around killing and destroying just for the thrill of it. Clearly, they must be stopped.

He made us dig foxholes which he parked our vehicles over. We strung up alot of the dead birds along the outside of the cage which once penned them. We armed up with every rifle, shotgun, pistol and ammunition we had. At dark, we kids, my mom, the step dad, two off duty Sheriff's deputies and a couple of neighbors all got in the foxholes, and waited.

After what seemed like forever, sure enough the pack returned. And we opened fire on signal, shooting these crazed animals as quickly as we could. Some ran away immediately when the shooting started. Some tried to attack us, in our foxholes. We literally had to blast those at point blank range. Some just got shot while trying to further rip up the dead birds. The whole thing was quite terrifying and traumatic, even for the adults. We stayed in the foxholes until dawn, then we finally came out and made the tally - in all 36 dogs, dead.

Using a backhoe we dug a 8 foot deep trench, tossed the dead dogs and livestock in, covered them with powdered lime and buried them. The entire time of this incident from beginning to end, I was questioning to myself whether there wasn't another way. Did we have to kill these dogs? I still question it. But it's done and what's done is done, but I made up my mind that if ever I found myself with similar circumstances I would try to find a way to solve the problem, without killing.

Nine years ago that time came, as I detailed earlier. I bought a small spread in a area that had a severe feral cat community problem. If course feral cats don't run in packs and destroy livestock or property, they just make still more cats. And yes they can be a noise nuisance, and they spray, marking their territory. And the disease and suffering is terrible for them. Feral Toms will eat kittens they detect came from a competitor. And so on. So, killing them all seems like a act of mercy. It's not the same as a pack of wild destructive dogs, but it is a problem for rabies and a host of other diseases to spread. It needs to be dealt with, and I did so without killing any of them save ones which were found to be infected with FiV, FiP, rabies, and etc. Those were euthanized by the county vet I had partnered with to clean this mess up.

The point is I very much understand the killing of animals, but I understand when it is justified or necessary. And I object in most strenuous terms when I see it happen where it is not justified, or necessary. People who kill animals simply for bloodsport and for no other reason aren't any better in my mind than those wild dogs in that pack, and have about the same amount of empathy and conscience they had. Which is zero. So excuse the fuck out of me if I don't want such a person licensed to practice veterinary medicine or any other kind of medicine. Otherwise why even have standards, or licensing in the first place?

This isn't kneejerk "moral outrage." It's objection to the senseless bloodsport killing of a otherwise innocent animal, by a person who ostensibly dedicated her career to helping them. The cat wasn't even on her property, for fuck's sake.
 
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This apparent idea that we should pick and choose what we're "outraged" about based on if it came from social media or not. What exactly IS that? What matter the vehicle?
Because social media allows something that's stupidly posted to reach a world-wide audience in a nanosecond. Sounds like she made a mistake and assumed the cat was feral. If that mistake was the end of it, then she wouldn't be facing all the outrage she's getting.

But she posted it on social media, and it went viral. She lost her job, shut down her facebook page, the Vet's office website has been shut down, and people are calling for her license. And how many years did she have to go to school to get that license? 6-8?

All that thrown down the drain because she made two mistakes... killed a cat that she mistakenly thought was feral, and posted it on social media. Now her career and possibly her life are ruined. Cause she killed a cat.

If your ridiculous little hypothetical were to happen, and she posted it on telephone poles, then it never would have this type of audience... that doesn't happen without the specific vehicle of social media.
 
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There was a constable in my old town who flat out shot a dog in public... a mistake. And it made the local news. But he didn't post it on social media... Still working as a constable there.
 
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