Veterinarian brags about killing a cat

It may have taken a toll on her though:

Hmmm, the arresting officer was listed as Tabby McMouser…

It’s intriguing that the linked story avers, as a matter of fact, that the cat was not feral, but was “Tiger,” a pet.

So far as I am aware, that’s a claim that remained disputed.

Possible, and legally you may be right, but it does seem the majority of people think it is, even if there is no legal-strength proof of it.

That said, even a neighborhood “feral” cat, it would still be considered unethical by most veterinarians I know. Not just the killing of the animal, but everything surrounding it. It shows disregard for the profession and how we are perceived by society.

I understand that there is a problem with cats (and dogs) damaging wildlife. The thing is, cats (and dogs) are not wildlife, they are domestic animals. And yes, because of that, I think they should be treated differently, and different approaches should be taken to decrease their impact to wildlife populations. Just killing all cats in one area will not make the problem disappear, as unless they are isolated, other cats will come and occupy their place.

or perhaps additional evidence was shown that supports that the cat was a pet.

Oh, absolutely. There was a fact-finding phase of the hearing before the ALJ and I imagine that some evidence could indeed have prompted that finding – I just had not seen any such finding reported prior to the unsubstantiated assertion in the news story.

My comment was not so much “That’s wrong!” as it was “Cite?” in other words.

The PFD goes on at great length about both sides’ arguments. Like, really, a shameful amount of testimony over a barn cat. I don’t think I can post directly to the document but if you’re really interested there are directions on the Tiger’s Justice Team facebook page.

At the end of the day it came down to the markings from the picture that was posted on FB, but also the fact that Tiger apparently lived right across the street and the owners testified that he went missing on the same day that the photo was posted.

Text copied from a terrible OCR job, it’s somewhat garbled but you can get the idea:

I don’t know what the rules of journalism are on this… I think it’s fair to say that the claim remains disputed, but a decision was indeed made on the identity of the cat.

I agree. I was unaware that this finding had been made. Now apprised of it, I agree the article’s claim is defensible.

"The Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners ruled Tuesday that Kristen Lindsey, the veterinarian who posted a photo of a dead tabby cat named Tiger with an arrow through its head on her Facebook last year, will have her license suspended for one year where she will not be able to practice.

After, she will be able to practice under conditions of probation for four years."

Ah steronz, if only you’d made that bet timeline six months longer…

Board yanks Dr. Shooty McKillcat’s license to practice for a year.

Also apparently confirms that this was indeed a pet.
Edited to add: Aw COME ON! Stopped to add a longer quote and I get ninja’ed! Damn it! Damn it all to hell!