Has "she" said why she did it yet?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/25/mary-bale-lola-cat-wheelie-binA woman caught on camera dropping a tabby cat into her owners' wheelie bin said today that she didn't know what all the fuss is about.
Mary Bale is now focus of a vitriolic campaign on Facebook with postings calling for her death, describing her as "evil" and "a psycho" and demanding she be sacked from her job as a customer services assistant with the Royal Bank of Scotland.
But the 45-year-old, who is the subject of an RSPCA investigation and is said to live just half a mile from the scene of the cat's 15-hour incarceration in Coventry, told the Sun that she did "not deserve to be hated" for her moment of madness". People were over-reacting, she said.
Bale was identified after Stephanie and Darryl Andrews-Mann put up footage on the web of their four-year-old pet Lola's treatment taped by their own security CCTV on Saturday night. They discovered her in the bin after hearing her cries the following morning.
"I really don't see what everyone is getting so excited about. It's just a cat," Bale said. "I was walking home from work and saw this cat wander out in front of me. I was playing with it, stroking it and listening to it purr as it stood on a garden wall. It was very friendly.
"I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly thought it would be funny to put it in the wheelie bin, which was right beside me. I did it as a joke because I thought it would be funny. I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out of the bin."
Bale added: ""People are reading too much into things. I've no feelings about cats one way or the other. I don't keep pets myself, but I have no problem with people who do.
"To think this video is being seen around the world is unbelievable. I'm a very private person and don't want to upset any members of my family. I don't know what my relatives will think, but to be honest I think everyone's overreacting a bit.
"OK, I shouldn't have done it, but it's just a cat at the end of the day. I don't think I deserve to be hated by people all over the world, it was just a split second of madness."
Mrs Andrews-Mann said: "I can't believe the reaction to the story. I only posted it on Facebook because I wanted to see who she was. Now that the police know who she is, I think people should leave it to them and the RSPCA and not take matters into their own hands.
"Whatever she has done, I don't like her, but I don't want her to get hurt. It needs to be dealt with properly, not by people getting aggressive with her."
Coventry police said they were supporting the RSPCA investigation and "would urge the public to leave the matter to be dealt with in the appropriate manner by the authorities".
"Coventry police have not arrested the woman because she has not committed a criminal offence."
The force said Bale was not being given police protection and community support officers were outside her address monitoring a large group of people for "public order purposes as per routine police procedure".
