Veterinarian Formerly Employed by Texas A&M U. Found Guilty of Animal Cruelty
“related to an incident where she repeatedly used an electric cattle prod on a horse she was treating”
This story is upsetting on multiple levels. If you love horses, you might want to skip this one.
The Chronicle of the Horse reports:
Jury Finds Texas Equine Veterinarian Guilty On Animal Cruelty Charge
A Brazos County, Texas, jury found equine veterinarian and amateur dressage rider Ashlee Watts guilty of animal cruelty related to an incident where she repeatedly used an electric cattle prod on a horse she was treating.
It took jurors less than a hour of deliberation on Wednesday to find Watts, formerly employed by Texas A&M University, guilty, according to Kelly Brown, a spokesperson for the university.
Watts, 47, of College Station, Texas, was indicted on the felony animal cruelty charge in 2021. The 2019 incident involving the cattle prod was recorded in surveillance video, which showed Watts repeatedly shocking a horse named Allie who was recovering from surgery.
But the case is not over just yet. Watts asked for a pre-sentence investigation, District Attorney Jarvis Parsons said, and the judge in the case has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 6, ahead of a formal sentencing.
Allie’s owner, Scott Berry, testified during the trial. He told local media after the verdict he was grateful.
“Just relief I think and hopefully a little bit of closure, and I think some good and some education can come out of this and ethical treatment of animals,” Berry told the KBTX news station Wednesday. “Whether you’re a regular person off the street or a veterinarian, it is important.”
During the trial, several equine medical professionals took the stand as witnesses and experts to determine whether using a cattle prod with an electric shock, also known as a “hotshot,” was a common and ethical practice in veterinary medicine. Some made the case that the hotshot was akin to natural horsemanship or dressage training. Others insisted the practice was inhumane…
While the mare reacted to the electrical shots, which video indicated were administered to areas of her body including her face, ears, muzzle and tailhead, she was never able to stand independently. At one point in the video, she was lowered back to the ground and left to rest on her side for approximately seven minutes before she was raised in the hoist again, and Watts administered more shocks.
At that point, video from the stall documented Watts “using the hotshot for over half an hour (including an approximately seven-minute break in the middle).” The text continues: “Allie was lowered and left alone to rest. She died in the stall approximately an hour and half later.”
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“Watts told the board she was trying to get the horse—who had been down for roughly a day since undergoing surgery—to stand, as that was crucial for her recovery. Watts performed surgery on Allie to treat an abscessed infection in her rear hoof. While the horse awoke from anesthesia and initially appeared “bright,” she was still unable to stand the day after her procedure.”
From reports, it looks like the vet sincerely believed that unless she could get the horse to stand, it was doomed. So this was an in extremis procedure, not cruelty. (Compare this to “electroshock treatment” for humans.)
Now, maybe the question here was incompetence, as she failed to diagnose the pneumonia and abscesses that were complicating the horse’s recovery. Nobody wants a doctor with tunnel vision… but we’ve all known them.
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