Though I suspect many of you have seen this by now, here’s a disturbing story from Coventry, England. Mary Bale was out for a walk when a cat jumped up to greet her. She petted the cat like any normal person would — but then she picked it up and threw it in the trash! How can we be sure? The cat’s owner got it on video:
When caught, Bale tried to play it off as a joke. Ha ha! Pretty hilarious that Lola the cat was trapped in the trash for fifteen hours. Nobody’s buying it, though, especially since the video quite clearly shows her checking to be sure nobody’s looking.
Fortunately, Lola’s owner rescued her. He then put the footage on YouTube and started a Facebook page to track down the culprit. When discovered, Bale apologized. Sort of. Here’s a bit from the Daily Mail:
Speaking yesterday at her parents’ home in Coventry, Miss Bale said: ‘I want to take this opportunity to apologise profusely for the upset and distress that my actions have caused. I cannot explain why I did this, it is completely out of character and I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners. It was a split second of misjudgment that has got completely out of control.
But she claimed the outcry had been blown out of all proportion: ‘I don’t know what the fuss is about. It’s just a cat.’
No word yet on whether charges will be pressed against Bale.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Good grief! What a psycho!
Whoa… but… how come the kitty was trapped for 15 hours when the whole thing was filmed? Do the owners have a cam on their trash can all the time?
Maybe Animal Unintelligence would be more appropriate in this case!
It was 4chan that tracked this woman down, which actually makes the case a little more complicated. As a few people pointed out, 4chan has a history of tracking down pet abusers – but what happens when they inevitably get it wrong in some future happening? Things seem pretty clear-cut in this case, but what if it hadn’t been? The woman received death threats over this, and even had to go into hiding (http://gawker.com/5622237/how-4chan-brought-the-evil-british-cat-lady-to-justice).
@Dina: I believe that it *was* a security camera. I think that they only found out what had happened when they reviewed the footage later (though I’m not sure if they found the cat because of the footage, or reviewed the footage because they found the cat!).
Oh, and this just in: charges are going to be pressed.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/20/cat-dumper-mary-bale.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Somebody should throw her in the trash. This is so upsetting I could curse right now….
Just think of all things by accident cruel and ugly people have done and are doing to animals and others who have never been photographed.
Does Bale’s non-apology sound just a little sociopathic to anyone other than me?
I try to stay positive, I really do. But scumbag people like this really make it hard. I know why people believe in reciprocal karma–I’d like to see her locked in a trash bin for 15 hours. At least.
(And yes, it appears that the owners do have a camera on the trash bin all the time–this obviously came from a security camera that is always on.)
this lady is so unconsiderate and why on earth would someone throw a cat in a garbage?! shes insane and needs help. and by saying that “its just a cat” are you kidding me this lady obviously needs to reconsider her point of view, this poor cat. i hope the cat is alright now as for the lady….umm she needs to get her act straight and I can’t even imagine doing that to an animal, thats very inhumane.