At the time Dr Kristen Lindsey killed Tiger with a bow and arrow she was living in a property which was rented from another veterinarian, Dr Buenger. Buenger was her landlord.
Tiger had been around the property quite a lot before Lindsey killed him. As a result, on April 14th, Lindsay asked Beunger whether he knew if the cat belonged to someone. Buenger told Lindsey that he had seen the cat. He said, “he’s been around”. He also told Lindsay that he did not own the cat and that Tiger did not belong to anyone else as far as he was aware.
Lindsey asked Buenger what she should do about the cat. The court record states that his response was suggestive (my assessment) in saying: “take care of it“. In other words by quiet suggestion he recommended that she kill Tiger. That would be the ordinary person’s understanding from Buenger’s recommendation in my view. This vet is not blameless.
Consequently on the next day Lindsey shot Tiger at about 7 pm on the evening of Wednesday April 15th.
Note: if you are unfamiliar with the long running saga and notorious cat killing case please clink on this link for previous posts.
It is worth stating that the court documents tell us that the court decided that Tiger’s death was instantaneous. I am surprised at that and I may return to it later. Does an arrow through the head cause instant death? I am not sure. But the vets were sure. I have read stories of cats shot in the head with bolts and lived. This instantaneous death decision seems convenient to me.
This short post focuses on one issue: the involvement of Lindsey’s landlord which I think is significant in encouraging her to kill tiger. Is he an accomplice in the alleged crime? Lindsey was not charged with a crime.
The reason for this may be because the cat’s owners, Mr and Mrs Johnson were unwilling to provide solid evidence to prosecute Lindsey. They said that they wished Lindsey no ill will and had no desire to pursue charges against her. There is a great weakness in the case against Lindsey: the failure of Tiger’s owners to participate with conviction in the matter. Clearly they were not as emotionally connected to Tiger as countless thousands of people associated with the Justice for Tiger campaign.
More to come…
Source: Lindsey’s appeal in the Texas appeal courts against the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiner’s Final Order affirmed by a court.
Because Tiger actually had owners who did not want to pursue the person who murdered their pet in an inhumane sick way it is very hard and a waste of time and taxpayer money as far as the DA is concerned to pursue the animal cruelty charges. I would have been up the DA’s backside daily.
I don’t see Tiger’s owners in a very good light either. They are passively condoning a monster to continue to work with animals.
I believe his owners where elderly. And, many of their generation don’t ‘make waves’. Just sayin’.
You are correct Kit. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Original owners were elderly, but this couple was in their 60s and had Tiger for only a few months, but the caregiver for the elderly couple who needed .medical care, sold their farm and land, including animals and new owners would retain the longtime caregiver who was familiar with all the animals.
I thought new owners were callous,but probably hadn’t bonded with him or all the other farm animals, but appeared insensitive, especially the husband who talked about stray cats, etc. Tiger was not a .STRAY nor was he FERAL,so Lindsey lied about these fscts
He said, “he’s been around”. He also told Lindsay that he did not own the cat and that Tiger did not belong to anyone else as far as he was aware.
So I assume this second veterinarian while impersonating being a human being went door to door asking about Tiger and put up flyers asking if there were owners ? Was there a call placed to the local AC asking if someone had lost a cat ?
As they say , birds of a feather.
Oh and yeah, Buenger told her to “take care of” the cat, then dumped her when social media lit up the small town with condemnation.
Has Buenger’s role in this been discussed on social media or anywhere else?
Ditto to all above, and I am troubled by the apparent record of the prosecutor. I assume this is a an elected position and not appointed, and if so, what kind of campaign could be launched against the prosecutor? He should not hold that position if he’s not willing to defend victims. Even if the victim is “just” a cat.
All I can say to that is go figure, it’s kind of typical of Texas.
This was a high profile case and the DA should have taken it and ran with it. But then of course they were afraid of it looking like they were caving to social media.
Albert, it’s not typical of the entire state of Texas. But, of some parts. Don’t condemn a whole state….any of them.
Yes his role in all this was pointed out as it occurred or became known, but it was kind of like our presidents’ first year in office – one crap storm after another, daily.
Buenger’s role definitely was discussed on social media, but it’s been a couple years so I don’t remember all the particulars.
To read Dr. Folger’s letter to the DA you can scroll through this link from MCH.
https://memorialcathospital.wordpress.com/author/docfolger/
Buenger knew Lindsey’s character, or lack thereof… She worked there for two years and was his tenant. These people were all cut from the same cloth but he’s especially low for throwing her under the bus. All at the vet clinic knew what they were doing. His lawyer probably told him he should fire her also. Everyone was just trying to save their own ass and was against Tiger… Lindsey, Buenger, the other vets and assistants, the sheriff, Tiger’s owners wimped out, Lindsey’s lawyer of course, and on and on, except us people online who recognized this for what it was. Even the prosecutor was against Tiger as he typically sand-bagged every animal cruelty case in his district the prior 20 years. Not one prosecution on his watch. All cruelty cases seem to be made worse when it comes to the law. Lastly, there were experts who testified that Tiger was not dead after Lindsey shot him, as she held him up in the air by the arrow for her victory photo of her handiwork. Everything about this was truly sickening.
Albert I think you should write the next article. I am reading the court papers and they are enlightening.
I’d like to defer to one of our friends who were more instrumental, or go back and refresh my memory. Feel free to share your thoughts and I’ll ask them for clarification; it was during this fiasco that I grew sick of Facebook too and removed myself completely for a year. I only recently rejoined some groups and I only log on occasionally.
Albert, you are right that Buenger knew about her lack of character and I believe his is lacking too.
If I remember correctly there was a pit on the property (Buenger’s) where killed animals were disposed of and in fact I believe that was the location where Tiger’s body had been dumped. The Austin DA had no intentions of charging her with animal cruelty and didn’t even make an effort to prove the act occurred in Texas and that was one of the reasons cited why she wasn’t charged. There is a lot more to the story than can be told here, but the whole thing was disgusting and sickening. I believe Dr. Folger was right in asserting that she had Tiger contained or in a legtrap and shot him point blank. You haven’t heard the last of that psychopath.
The plot thickens — a quick online search reveals that this veterinarian (Dr. Buenger) was not only Dr. Lindsey’s landlord but her employer at Washington Animal Hospital. He is head of that hospital and responsible for firing her after Tiger’s death. That unfortunate remark “take care of it” presumably wasn’t meant to include inhumane killing. Still it shows indifference — sort of like Pilate washing his hands. It’s ambiguous, like the line where Henry II says of Becket “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” It gave carte blanche to Lindsey to do what she chose.
I am very sorry to see nothing posted about the torture of Chester the Staten Island cat. We often see cases revisited but nothing about poor Chester. I was hoping you would give his case exposure and updates. He deserves justice. 😢
Can you provide links so we can follow up about Chester?
Unfortunately, it’s not letting me paste the link. If you Google – Chester, the Staten Island cat – you will get several results. Warning there is some disturbing video of the injured Chester. Thank you for being interested. I was so upset and so little interest was shown for him.
Kit, links do work if you just paste them in or use the code the ‘a href’ code.
Thanks for commenting.
Thanks, Michael! I’ll try that code. I tried to get you this story. But , I can’t PM from my phone (I have to use the public library) nor could I use that format you requested.
Kit, I’m sick after seeing what that pos did to Chester. They showed the bad stuff on the daily mail article, but I’m not posting that link. I hadn’t even heard of this case and it is highly disturbing. That guy needs to be put away for as long as possible.
https://www.facebook.com/AlleyCatAllies/posts/10155585814967088