GALVESTON — Ornithologist Jim Stevenson fled town Thursday after telling police someone took a shot at him.

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Stevenson, who shot a cat but walked free after a jury deadlocked in his animal-cruelty trial, reported to police that someone fired a shot at his head Wednesday night while he was standing on his porch. He said he fell backward but wasn’t injured.

Stevenson has said he’s received death threats since the trial, which drew international attention, ended two weeks ago. He’s left the state for now but plans to return, he said.

“I feel like a walking abortion clinic,” he said.

Police, however, have dropped the investigation into the shooting because they said Stevenson refused to cooperate with detectives, said Lt. Jorge Trevino, spokesman with the Galveston Police Department.

Stevenson’s account of the shooting had inconsistencies and he refused to have his hands tested for gunpowder so investigators could determine whether he had fired the weapon, Trevino said.

When detectives asked him to come to the department to give a statement, Stevenson told them he’d left town, Trevino said.

Stevenson said he cooperated with police, but said he’d rather the FBI handle his case than the Galveston Police Department.

“I’ve been through a lot with the Galveston Police Department,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s a lot of trust with the Galveston Police Department.”

Stevenson was charged with cruelty to animals for shooting a cat near San Luis Pass bridge a year ago. He argued he was protecting endangered birds from feral cats. A tollbooth worker who had been feeding the cat filed the criminal complaint. The case was dropped when the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict. The district attorney’s office said it would not retry the case.