Veterinarian who shot cat with arrow loses license for a year

AUSTIN, TX (KTRK) -- A veterinarian who used a bow and arrow to kill a feral cat has lost her license for now.

Kristen Lindsey, the Austin veterinarian who bragged on social media after shooting and killing a feral cat with a bow and arrow, has had her license suspended for a year. She'll also be on a probationary period for four years. During that probation she is to have a board-approved supervising veterinarian to watch over Lindsey and submit quarterly reports to the board. In addition, Lindsey will have to take continuing education classes in animal welfare.

In the Facebook post, Lindsey is seen holding a dead cat by an arrow lodged in its head. "My first bow kill. The only good feral tomcat is one with an arrow through its head," she allegedly wrote.

READ MORE: Brenham vet fired over Facebook photo showing cat with arrow in head

After the post surfaced, Lindsey was fired from her job at a Brenham animal hospital, which faced heavy public backlash.

"Those actions don't any way portray what we're here for at Washington Animal Hospital," the hospital's Dr. Bruce Buenger told abc13 at the time. "We put our heart and soul in this place."

Lindsey's attorney issued the following statement:

"Dr. Lindsey and I are disappointed that the Board ordered suspension of Dr. Lindsey's license based on an action that had nothing to do with the practice of veterinary medicine. We are also disappointed that the Board has, for all intents and purposes, chosen to take sides in the culture war between the animal rescues zealots - who have campaigned to destroy Dr. Lindsey and her family - versus rural property owners who have the right to protect their property and their own animals from feral animals who are destroying their property and threatening their own animals. Dr. Lindsey did what she did to protect her property and her own cat from an animal that was trespassing on her property, damaging her property, and endangering her domestic cat and her horse. It is also disingenuous - if not absurd - that the individual who now claims she owned the cat didn't care enough about the cat at the time to give it a collar and tag - or any evidence of ownership, or to get the animal vaccinated for rabies (in an area where rabies was pervasive), or to prevent the animal from roaming wild in an environment where it was likely to be eaten by coyotes or otherwise suffer and perish. It should be very troubling to regular people that the State of Texas is spending precious tax dollars on the prosecution of someone who killed was simply protecting her property from a free-roaming feral animal, and that this Board doesn't have the integrity that the District Attorney in Austin County had to stand up to an irrational - but loud - lynch mob of zealots. We will be appealing the Board's decision to the District Court and we are confident that common sense and justice will prevail."