Mabel man charged in animal cruelty case

MABEL, Minn. (KTTC) – A Mabel man is facing two charges of animal cruelty from an incident reported to law enforcement on September 12.

According to Fillmore County Court records, Owen Rasmussen, 68, tried to drown a kitten and then bury it.

Two witnesses, listed in the complaint as LH and NB, told authorities they heard the event unfolding at Cherrywood Estates in Mabel.

LH says she heard Rasmussen turn the water on outside the apartment complex before watching him fill a bucket with water. LH also said Rasmussen then walked inside a shed where newborn kittens were bedding with the mother cat.

According to LH, the cats were originally strays, but since the birth of the kittens, she and NB had been caring for the cats, with consent from the apartment to let the cats stay in the shed.

According to NB, LH told them what she had seen. NB then went to the shed to find Rasmussen inside with the bucket of water along with a tool resembling a pitchfork inside the bucket.

NB noticed a kitten had been missing from where the other kittens and the mother cat were. According to NB, when they asked Rasmussen where the kitten was, he denied putting it in the bucket before going behind the shed.

LH and NB would both later hear a kitten crying from behind the shed before discovering it partially buried.

Rasmussen is set to make his first court appearance on October 29 in Preston.