Harveysmemorial.com

24/04/2025

This is the 11th anniversary of Harvey’s death. In memory of him, I want to post about HB 285, one of the worst bills I have ever seen, which is now moving forward in the Texas legislature. This bill started off to hold groomers and people boarding animals liable when they harm or kill those animals. It adds (b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, [or] recklessly, or with "criminal negligence": What is criminal negligence? It’s knowing and willful intent. Clearly, this language will cause confusion.
The Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA), the lobbyists for veterinarians added the following language to HB 285: “(d-1) It is a defense to prosecution for alleged criminal negligence that the conduct occurred during the actual discharge of the actor's duties while employed as a veterinarian licensed under Chapter 801, Occupations Code, or as a person assisting the veterinarian.”
If passed, HB 285 is yet another avenue for veterinarians to escape liability for harming their patients. Defense attorneys for veterinarians, if they are ever charged with animal cruelty in future once HB 285 passes, would certainly seek criminal negligence in order to free their guilty clients.
Also exempt from criminal negligence by HB 285 is anyone assisting veterinarians which could include every employee in a clinic as well as those employees who are groomers and working with boarded animals.
Everyone knows the case of Allie, the horse tortured with a cattle prod by former veterinarian professor Ashlee Watts, who was convicted of animal cruelty. While HB 285 applies only to non-livestock animals, if it passes it won’t be long before the TVMA pushes through a similar bill for livestock animals. Look online for all the pages posted by grieving pet owners. Listen to the last TBVME board meeting (public comments are near the beginning). Read the stories on Joey’s Legacy. Veterinary malpractice and negligence happens and those victims also deserve justice for animal cruelty.
Since the TVMA controlled TBVME does very little to discipline even the worst of veterinarians, criminal law may be the only way to protect the public and their pets from abusive veterinarians. HB 285 would effectively remove even that option.
“The bill would furthermore add a defense to prosecution for veterinarians and their assistants if the conduct occurs while discharging their duties.” (Criminal Justice Impact Statement for HB 285 (link: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/impactstmts/html/HB00285IB.htm)
If veterinarians and clinic employees engage in animal cruelty that harms or kills a beloved pet, all they have to say is they were doing their veterinary duty, and they are free of criminal negligence charges.
Because HB 285 is being pushed by a powerful lobby, I am afraid it will pass.
In memory of my beloved Harvey. I still miss you with every breath I take.

01/02/2025

On January 31, 2025, Ashlee Watts was given two years in jail but probated to five years. Part of her sentence is two years with no contact with livestock animals which her attorneys asserted will be immediately appealed. I believe Watts is relieved with probation but staying away from her horses is a real punishment. I’ve been kept away from my horse, too, but Harvey’s loss is permanent. It's also permanent for an unknown number of other victims who will never see their horses again because of Ashlee Watts. Some of these victims have been badly traumatized and too many victims have no idea what was done to their horses. I hope none of her sentence is overturned or given judicial clemency. While I had hoped for jail time, thanks to corporate capture it is extremely rare for a veterinarian to go to prison for anything less than murdering a human, so I was not surprised. The fact this horrific crime, malevolently torturing a helpless horse to death with a cattle prod, took place at Texas A&M, a public teaching hospital, and before students, elevates her crime and warranted jail time. At least her license is revoked and that’s so important to prevent harm to more horses and the broken hearts and destroyed lives of more people. At least she is not allowed near horses for two years. Texas A&M has been successful in keeping this story out of the national news so it’s up to Texas A&M to ensure an Ashlee Watts never happens again.
For Harvey. I miss you with every breath I take.

25/01/2025

I am so glad to see this information available for the public. It explains many of the problems pet owners face in today’s veterinary industry. Although it discusses Canada and the UK, the same issues also apply in the US.

Inside the corporate battle over your pet’s health | The Fifth Estate
The darker side of the pet industry.

The cost of owning a pet has skyrocketed. Independent vet clinics are being gobbled up by multinational corporations and private equity and some workers say ...

27/12/2024

Sharing from Heather Kutyba's For Dazzle page. If you have been impacted by Ashlee Watts, now is the time to comment or share your story.

23/11/2024

Caroline Collier, the author who wrote “The Vets, the Cattle Prod, and the Guttural Wail” published in The Texas Observer (link below in a separate post), sits down with FORTitude’s J. W. Wilson to discuss the story in this gripping Youtube podcast worthy of an hour of your time. Collier lost her cat Dash to veterinarians who used an experimental drug on him without her permission.
FORTitude FW Podcast I The Lions are Coming

BREAKING NEWS SCANDAL, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine scandal detailed in a new Texas Observer article by investigative journalist, Caroline Collie...

02/11/2024

At last a journalist has taken up the story of Ashlee Watts. The Texas Observer’s Caroline Collier tells the horrifying specifics of Allie’s torture by Watts and the criminal trial and conviction that followed. While it only implies there are many other horses and humans who suffered and gently treats A&M’s culpability, Collier writes a complex story in depth and sheds light on an industry that has lost its soul to corporate capture. My heartful gratitude to Heather Kutyba who fought so long and so hard to expose Watts and end the carnage.
Who Vets the Vets? The Vet, the Cattle Prod, and the Guttural Wail
https://www.texasobserver.org/watts-horse-veterinarian-cruelty-training/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGp8e1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZ-0HS_7wXfvUvR5HxxQNG5-43Epakq5NUy4VmLDP2hss8wUoaa9HQSVhQ_aem_vc3MlZhK5melp7zq5BTBdQ

An equine surgeon and Texas A&M professor has been convicted of animal cruelty after repeatedly shocking a horse in front of students, among other misdeeds, exposing the shaky ethics training of some veterinarians.

14/10/2024

Zoetis has been sued by victims harmed by its drug LIBRELA.
“The 38-page lawsuit shares that Librela, the brand name version of bedinvetmab, has been linked to thousands of reports of adverse events in dogs, including behavior changes, urinary incontinence, seizures, worsening osteoarthritis symptoms, and death. Per the suit, there is no available antidote should a pet have an adverse reaction to the long-acting drug, which was approved by the FDA in 2023 to treat osteoarthritis-related pain and is administered....by injection on a monthly basis. The suit alleges misrepresentations about Librela by manufacturer Zoetis, the world’s largest animal health company by sales, have caused “millions upon millions of dollars in damages for pet owners,” with the company to date continuing to maintain that the drug is safe for dogs.”

A class action lawsuit alleges the maker of canine osteoarthritis drug Librela has failed to adequately warn pet owners of the dangers of the treatment.

07/09/2024

If you need a veterinary malpractice medical review by a veterinarian to support your malpractice case, or need an attorney for your veterinary malpractice case, contact Joey's Legacy for help.
For more information:

Joey’s Legacy is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping, supporting, and protecting animal and human victims of veterinary malpractice. Through educational initiatives, public awareness campaigns, and legal advocacy, we strive to create a more compassionate and just society for all living b...

24/04/2024

It is the tenth anniversary of Harvey’s death today and in memory of him, I want to post the public comments (not available to the public unless requested) I submitted for the TBVME board meeting dated March 6, 2024:
“Our beloved pets are being used in unregulated research by unscrupulous veterinarians and researchers without informed consent. Lab animals have a few protections, but our pets don't so they are being exploited. This leads to animal abuse and animal cruelty at the expense of our beloved pets and the public who loves them, and the expense is not only in dollars but also in emotional distress. In 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act allowed universities to profit from their own research, which has allowed a lot of research designed solely to make money with little or no benefit to society. This opened the door to this very ugly practice of using owned companion animals in research not only at universities but extending into private practice. Because state boards of veterinary medicine are market participant controlled, nothing is being done to stop it. Veterinarians who abuse and kill owned companion animals in research aren't disciplined. This practice is despicable and outrageous. The excuse that it's legal is absurd. Animal cruelty is illegal and that's what this is. No one who has lost a pet to research they didn't even know their pet was being subjected to comes out unscathed, even though most of them are never made aware of it. These are consumers who paid for veterinary care believing the veterinarian had their pets' welfare and survival as the paramount focus, when in fact it was all about advancing so-called research, either for acclaim or financial conflicts of interest, without oversight or consequences. A laboratory animal has some protection. Our pets don't. There are studies out there right now trying to lure in pet owners to allegedly help science. All this agency has to do to stop this ugly practice is pass a rule requiring informed consent before an owned companion animal is used in research. It's that simple and together with meaningful disciplinary action, this abuse will end.”
Harvey’s “treatment” by former veterinarian Ashlee Watts was never about saving Harvey. It was about her research, and I didn’t know until years later. Harvey was in fact tortured to death.
A depth of gratitude to Heather Kutyba (Dazzle) for fighting so hard and so long to expose Ashlee Watts. Also, huge thanks to the brave person who kept the video from “disappearing”. The video of Allie being tortured was instrumental in the permanent revocation of Ashlee Watts’ license. Also, huge thanks to Jodi Ware (Lightning) for teaching me so much.

In memory of my beloved Harvey, whom I miss with every breath I take. I am so, so sorry I didn’t know enough to save you.

17/04/2024

Photo of my beloved Harvey on March 27, 2014 after stem cells were harvested for Ashlee Watts's research. Harvey died the following month. Ashlee Watts’ license was permanently revoked on Friday, April 12, 2024.

12/04/2024

Aristotle: “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.” I am so relieved and thankful that law and justice prevailed today and Ashlee Watts’ license has been permanently revoked. Remembering Harvey, Dazzle, Allie, and all the others who died needless and terrible deaths.

11/03/2024

I believe Harvey would be alive today if not for heartless veterinarians who maliciously withheld lifesaving care, and then another heartless veterinarian who, rather than save his life, used him for her research, subjecting him to horrific pain and needlessly risking his life (and mine because I have never recovered from what was done to him). The practice of using owned companion animals in rogue research without informed consent is happening not just in universities but also in private veterinary clinics and most people have no idea. Harvey would be 21 today. Happy birthday Sweetness, my magnificent, beautiful horse. I will miss you until the day I die.