'It takes two gulps of water, it's dead ... There's no suffer there'

By Kat Wolcott KPIC News Published: Jul 18, 2012 at 8:44 PM PDT Last Updated: Jul 19, 2012 at 11:02 AM PDT
'It takes two gulps of water, it's dead ... There's no suffer there' »Play Video

WINCHESTER, Ore. -- A Winchester family was outraged to find that their neighbor had killed their two cats, but the man who did it told KPIC News he not only believes the killings were humane, but also justified.

Kevven Tymn raises rabbits.

He sells some, gives others away, and eats a few. But Tymn says he wasn't the only one eating the bunnies.

He says that cats were attacking his rabbits.

Kevven says he tried everything to keep his animals safe, said he spoke with neighbors who owned cats, and even built an enclosed shelter. "We built this big one. It's eight foot wide, 40 feet long, to protect the babies," he said. "We've got almost a thousand bucks invested in protecting the animals."

But he says that wasn't good enough, telling KPIC News that more than 30 baby bunnies were killed.

One night he says he caught a cat in the act of attacking his bunnies. "Here's one of them doing it. I caught it, I've got scratches on my arms and wrists from it, catching the cat. So, I did away with it," said Tymn. He says he caught another cat later that night, and killed it as well.

What had some in the neighborhood outraged, was his method.

Kevven chose to drown the cats because he says that's the most humane thing he could do. "You can't shoot a firearm in city limits, and it's illegal to have chemicals that you can poison with, so that is illegal. And what's the difference? Poison the cat like the state does, the cat suffers until it dies. You shoot the cat: if you don't shoot it just right it sits there and squirms around and suffers until it dies," he said.

"You put it in a 55 gallon drum of water, it takes two gulps of water, it's dead," said Tymn. "There's no suffer there. So, I figured that's the most humane way of getting rid of the animal."

He adds that he feels bad that the Eifert family has lost their pets, but he says he'd had enough. "My household or your household: my household comes first."

Tymn says he has been harassed ever since by angry neighbors, who made signs, wrote in chalk on the street in front of his house, and even alleges he was assaulted in his backyard.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is handling the investigation.

When Deputies are done with their report, they'll turn the investigation over to the District Attorney's office, where officials will decide whether or not Tymn was justified in killing the cats.