The search is over for the woman shown on this video petting a cat and then dumping it into a closed trash can. As we previously discussed, people in Coventry have been looking for the woman who turns out to be Mary Bale, a customer services assistant with the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The cat was left in the trash can for 15 hours in Coventry. The mistreatment of four-year-old Lola was the subject an investigation and her owners, Stephanie and Darryl Andrews-Mann, put up footage on the web — leading to Bale’s identification.
Bale, 45, objected that she is being treated unfairly and has received threats on the Internet. She insisted that she does “not deserve to be hated.” She stated: “I really don’t see what everyone is getting so excited about . . . 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.”
Her defense is a bit lacking. Here is a defense argument that most defense lawyers would probably forego in court: “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. . . . 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.”
What is fascinating is the possible legal claims of the Andrews-Mann family. They obviously have trespass to chattel. However, the law in the United States (and presumably England) would not allow pain and suffering for an animal to be the basis of a lawsuit. Often in the death of a pet, lawyers will seek to realize the true (as opposed to the market) value of the pet by suing for the emotional distress of the owner. Here the emotional distress would be based on watching the video, which would make this even more difficult since the cat was allowed to roam outside the home.
Source: Guardian
What this Lady did was un nessaserly wrong! My Nabors next door hates Cats there Hispanixs very nice but hates Cats one of them came told my Sister one day wile she was out in front. Any way I could never do this Becouse I had a lot of them. Mimi
She did it because she’s a fat, vile-looking slob, who looks like a man without her make-up on. She probably got turned down after offering herself to the ugliest man in Coventry and stormed out of the house moments before this happened.
There may be even more to this story….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyNNcorFX0E&fs=1&hl=en_US]
Nal
1, August 25, 2010 at 11:15 am
It wasn’t a “split second of madness”. She looked around to make sure that no one was watching. It was premeditated.
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Yissil
1, August 25, 2010 at 7:33 pm
This is the first time I’ve watched this famous video. The first thing she does when the cat jumps on the wall is pat him on the head then look directly at the bin. Then you can see her looking up and around to see if anyone is watching. The she puts the cat in the bin and walk quickly away.
That is a sociopath in action.
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Too bad we can’t hear her … she sees the cat … she stops … she looks down and waits for the cat to jump up on the wall … I wonder if she spoke to the cat (here kitty, kitty?) … seems well within the bounds of probability given her subsequent behavior …
What is most disturbing about this sick woman’s actions is that there is a high probability she’s done this before, and escaped without negative ramifications. She probably never imagined that somebody would have a video trained on her.
For everybody who has lost a cat in the past, this woman’s cruelty is a very disturbing thing, since it suggests the real possibility that other lost cats have been tortured in a similar manner by other demented types.
There is NO acceptable excuse for her behavior and I call upon the Bank of Scotland to fire her summarily. I personally would boycott that bank until such time as she is removed from her position. The cat abusers of the world need to know that there are severe penalties for their cruelty and that it is not viewed with any kind of amusement.
Name: Mary Bale, Address: 4 St. Michaels Road, Coventry, CV2 4EJ, Tel: +44 (0)2476 441875, Workplace: Royal Bank of Scotland, 17 Church Street, Rugby, Warwickshire CV21 3PB, Work Tel: 01788 543326
This is the first time I’ve watched this famous video. The first thing she does when the cat jumps on the wall is pat him on the head then look directly at the bin. Then you can see her looking up and around to see if anyone is watching. The she puts the cat in the bin and walk quickly away.
That is a sociopath in action.
Byron said,
“What if she saved the cats life by putting it in the trash bin? there were cars passing by and probably dogs as well. had that been my cat I would have been thankful she hadn’t been killed by a car or stray dog.”
Seriously? That’s the most backwards logic I’ve ever heard. An act cannot be redeemed by the potential for a worse act to occur. I should come by your house and hide all your shoes from you, that way you’ll never lose them.
BI Scorecard Guy
The English are reputed to be more concerned about their pets than almost any other country, which might explain the need for police protection of the woman in this case.
I imagine that Americans spend more than any other country on their pets and care about them enormously. Certainly any civilized nation has laws against cruelty to animals.
When we enter area of more laws, though, the slippery slope of what we should do in the case of commercial farming of animals, experimentation with animals leading to human cures, and exploitation of animals in the entertainment industry we can get muddled very quickly.
If you are only suggesting laws about pets, I expect most areas have enough laws – whether they enforce them adequately is another question. In this area we are constantly treated to the news of people being arrested for lack of care and the animals being taken away from them.
What if she saved the cats life by putting it in the trash bin? there were cars passing by and probably dogs as well. had that been my cat I would have been thankful she hadn’t been killed by a car or stray dog.
We don’t need any more laws of any kind, there are enough already. Get rid of a bunch and apply the good ones appropriately. Why does everyone think a new law will be a panacea? Typically you have to pass laws to counteract the laws you passed trying to fix something that probably got screwed up because somebody passed a law years ago trying to fix something . . .
Let people be free and use government as a referee not as a jack booted thug.
My 2 cents is that lawmakers should take note about the public’s feelings about their pets and should pass more legislation protecting them. Legislation is behind the times and as usual doesn’t stay in tune with the citizens’ needs.
Buckeye,
I read that it was Lola’s owners security cam.
She’s the one who puts the “cuss” in “customer service”?
It’s not like she tortured the cat like this guy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38837130/
It’s not a great thing to do, and I sympathize with the owners, but cats get themselves into tricky situations all the time, quite on their own. This one just lasted until the first person put in some garbage, I suppose, and found the kitty.
It’s great that no one here has ever had a “split second of madness”, like I have – though no animals were involved – some of which I regret to this day.
Thankfully there were no ubiquitous cameras to catch them. Whose camera was it, by the way? And why was it there?
It wasn’t a “split second of madness”. She looked around to make sure that no one was watching. It was premeditated.
I guess she feels trapped and in a box as well. How well do we treat the our animals?
so can I sue for the emotionalism distress caused by watching the video? 🙂
@Otteray Scribe – what you said!
“However, the law in the United States (and presumably England) would not allow pain and suffering for an animal to be the basis of a lawsuit.”
Human exceptionalism at its finest.
Customer services representative. For a bank. Is there anything else that needs to be said?
” I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out of the bin.”
Really ?