I pit Kristen Lindsey. This woman is a veterinarian, someone sworn to help and protect animals. Recently, she shot a cat through the head with a bow and arrow, then posted a photo of herself online, showing her holding up the dead cat and smiling. What a depraved person.
Story here: Austin County sheriff presents dead cat investigation to district attorney
That pic is the stuff of nightmares. That beautiful cat. I hope she gets her vet credentials revoked. What cat owner would ever trust her with their kitty again?
Now the real question for the pit is who’s worse this woman, the lady who shot the giraffe or the comedian who commented on it.
I’m going to go with Lincoln Park.
I had thought that this HAD to be some kind of hoax.
Now I’m not so sure.
If true, this woman should never be allowed near animals again. That picture is just beyond bizarre.
The following statement is NOT me condoning the actions of the vet:
Reading the article it appears the vet did something (killing a feral tomcat) that was not only correct but indeed laudable in her perceived social situation. A grand indicator of how much people’s worlds differ from each other. She is learning that this method of feral cat control will not be universally applauded.
Me too. When I first heard of it I thought it was SO over the top it had to be a joke…but I’m not hearing any joke explanations…
Is is just me are professional people starting to get good at torpedoing expensive careers with abject internet stupidity?
A friend of mine runs the Statter 911 website, dedicated to Fire/EMS news. He calls such developments SMACSS - Social Media Assisted Career Suicide Syndrome.
Getting to be pretty regular.
The method is perfectly humane – if you’re a good shot. It’s arguably more humane than stressing the poor fella out by trapping him, handling him and giving him an injection.
Putting the photograph up on social media, on the other hand, is never a good shot.
If you choose to share what you do with an audience of millions (and whatever you put on the internet is exposed to that extent whether you like it or not) then don’t be surprised when you get slated for it.
It doesn’t even really matter whether what you did was objectively good or bad. Someone out there in the murky depths of the internet swamp will take objection and probably sling you an off-handed death-threat. Killing a cat using a bow is pretty much guaranteed to get you a severe reaction. How much of a dullard do you have to be to be surprised by that?
“The only winning move is not to play” as a wise “man” once said. So either don’t do stupid shit in the first place or don’t post it on social media.
All this thread was missing was the bizarre ultra-rationalist. Score.
In the history of the SDMB, there has never been a case when I’ve uttered the words “I am not clicking that link, I do not want to see that picture”, and followed through on it.
This is a first. I am really not clicking that link. I honestly do not want to see that picture.
So, fucking congratulations, vet lady, on that.
As usual, all links posted on The Straight Dope make my fucking computer freeze. Couldn’t read the article and only saw the very top of the photo.
At what range did she pull off that fucking awesome shot?
I’ve seen suggestions that she didn’t kill a feral cat, but rather an outdoor pet of an elderly couple. If that’s true, this is even more reckless.
I’m glad to see that her practice fired her. I’d be horrified to find that she had cared for my animals. It’s not the action itself, but the delight in the kill. Sacrificing animals is part of the job, but everyone I’ve known in the animal world ( vets, techs, researchers, owners) have found killing animals to be hard and sad.
Nah, just not a fan of feral cats. They spread disease and kill more than their fair share of native wildlife, since we’ve eliminated most of their predators. Not to mention making baby cats at an unbelievable pace.
Now, if true, *that *would make me join the outragefest.
What does that have to do with it? Feral cats are a problem, certainly.
You think a (well aimed) arrow through the skull is arguably less inhumane than stress and an injection?
If you say so. I’m not an expert on humane euthanasia methods. Learn something everyday, I guess.
I think when you look for the humanity / inhumanity of causing the death of a creature, once other factors are taken into account, the final act is to make the death as quick and painless as possible. That said injections are often not the most speedy or painless method of euthanasia, especially in larger creatures.
Have you ever tried to get a cat that *liked *you into a cat carrier?
I’m with you, and also just forced cuddles on my three cats.
And this is from a woman who has gone from helping treat a bloody gnarly car accident victim to eating lunch, with just a good hand-scrub in between. I’ve reviewed surgical notes at lunch. Really, it takes a lot to disgust me.
But this. Ugh. Just, ugh. FROM A VET!
Sure, an arrow through the head is fast. So is being stomped on the head. Anyone want to try for that? Can I shoot her in the head via bow-and-arrow or head-stomp and claim “it’s a fast death”? I’m a pretty good shot.
Apparently this woman blogged about killing animals, too, but I can’t click on those links either.
(On a related note, I worked with a real asshole who knew I loved cats, and made a point of telling me how he shot a cat with a BB gun because it pooped in his garden. I told him that I hope the owner of the cat sued his ass, and his wife stepped in and said that the cat was “a problem”. He just kept doing this weird creepy smile at me and said, “Yep, shot that cat.” So I loudly said, “So, Bill, you admit to ANIMAL CRUELTY? You’ve just admitted committing a FELONY to me? You’re a FELON, is that what you’re saying?” Because I think I have to tell HR if someone commits a FELONY."
My boss intervened. Dickhead stopped bragging about his cat-shooting. I hope to get to shoot his ass with rock salt one day. )
I have, yes. Nothing to report there but I concede.
The cat was an owned and friendly cat, not a feral. Though I haven’t found any statements by the owners that have been made public, there’s a YouTube video of a cat that looks exactly like the one in the vet’s photo, and is a neighboring property, and went missing. I hope she loses her license.
Here’s a news website from Texas that has a pretty good timeline documented, as well as lots of links to statements by other parties, the video I mentioned, and the state law that was violated: http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Veterinarian-Brags-About-Killing-Cat-with-Bow-and-Arrow--300293461.html
As a veterinarian, the way to combat the feral cat population is to make herself available to TNR for low cost spaying and neutering, not hunting them. (especially when the result is killing a friendly, neutered, neighbor’s cat) There are active groups of TNR people in Texas, one who’s a Doper. The argument that cats are a detriment to the songbird populations is not proven. What is for sure is that by far and by exponential numbers, the main detriment to wildlife populations and songbirds (the main argument against ferals) is people. Since people suck at being humane, no one talks about that, it’s so much easier and more fun to blame the cats instead. I’m not sure what diseases they’re supposed to be spreading? Mice, rats and bats are far more common disease vectors than cats. And cats eat all of those.
We’re both in Chicago. If you’d like more information on TNR in your area, I’ll be happy to send you links to Alley Cat Allies and to information my shelter has, as we’re one of the largest TNR coordinating resources in the City. If you think your zip code has a large problem feral population, let me know and I can ask about whether it’s on the list for future zips that we’re targeting (one each year) for TNR/education/colony caretaking/free spaying and neutering.