A Brazos County district court jury takes 63 minutes to find a former Texas A&M veterinarian and professor guilty of livestock cruelty. 47 year old Ashlee Watts faces punishment on the felony crime from probation to two years in a state jail. A sentencing hearing has been set for December 6. Watts was convicted of what the indictment says is intentionally and knowingly torturing a horse through the excessive use of an electrical device. Watts was treating the horse at the A&M vet hospital in December of 2019. A statement from the dean of the vet college said in part that the incident involving Watts does not in any way represent the care that is given to the nearly 27,000 animals who visits A&M’s small and large animal teaching hospitals each year. The statement from dean John August also said the case “has been deeply troubling for clinicians, students, support staff, and leadership, not just at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences but for the public and, particularly, the equine community as well.” Statement from the dean of Texas A&M’s college of veterinary medicine and biological sciences John August, provided by the university: This case involving a former faculty member has been deeply troubling for clinicians, students, support staff, and leadership, not just at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences but for the public and, particularly, the equine community as well. We firmly believe that the incident is not in any way representative of the care we strive to provide to the nearly 27,000 animals that visit our Small and Large Animal Teaching hospitals each year. Our administrative actions throughout this process have been guided by Texas A&M human resources policies and procedures — as well as the decisions by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and the criminal investigations related to the incident. We have outstanding faculty throughout the entire VMBS — not just in the teaching hospitals — who represent Texas A&M and our profession extremely well. Our faculty are well-regarded not only at Texas A&M but at other veterinary colleges around the world and within the profession itself. They are regularly recognized for their exemplary teaching, research, and patient care at university, state, national and international levels.
