Mary Bale: Cat Bin Woman
Just over a week ago, Mary Bale (45) put poor Lola the cat in a wheelie bin, because may be she thought it would be funny. Caught on CCTV we all saw Bale walk up to Lola smooth her and play with her, and then pick her up by the scruff of her neck to dump her in a wheelie bin.
Poor Lola was trapped for 15 hours, Stephanie and Darryl Andrews-Mann, Lola’s owners, realised she was missing late Saturday night. Bale had put her in the bin at 8pm. After watching CCTV footage that amazingly captured the entire scene they realise where Lola was.
Stephanie put the video on YouTube in a bid to find Bale. It gained more than 100,000 views from the UK alone in one day. Once Mary Bale had been named Stephanie urged West Midlands cops to take Bale to court for animal cruelty, saying "To think someone near us could do this sends chills down my spine. For her to say it was a joke is disgusting."
The Sun newspaper tracked Bale down in Coventry, living less than half a mile away from where she grabbed Lola. When one of the reporters questioned her on what happened, she laughed. She also said, "I really don't see what everyone is getting so excited about - it's just a cat. 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."
Even though Stephanie is angry at Bale for what she did to Lola, she is asking for people not to get involved. The issue has been taken to the police; Stephanie wants it to be dealt with professionally. She is angry with Bale, but does not want her to get hurt. The RSPCA are trying to get Bale prosecuted for animal cruelty. People as far away as Australia have seen this sick YouTube video, many have sent death threats. One even set up a group on facebook called ‘Death To Mary Bale’. This has caused Bale to have to get the police involved to keep her safe.
Bale could not be arrested as she did not commit a criminal offense. She is now under security to make sure she does not come into harm while the issue is dealt with.
Bale also faces being fired from her job in the Royal Bank of Scotland. Customers are refusing to be served by her and she is terrified that she could get attacked in work. She is now off work claiming sick pay due to the distress of the situation.
As a sort of apology Bale said, “Everything has gone crazy because of a stupid spur-of-the- moment thing I did - but I know I only have myself to blame. I wish I'd never set eyes on the cat”.
A spoof video posted on YouTube called, ‘Revenge Of The Cat’, shows a giant cat smoothing a lady sat on the wall. The cat then picks up the woman and puts her into a wheelie bin. Bale nicknamed the ‘Purrminator’ has begged forgiveness while being investigated by the RSPCA. Another creation in jest of Mary Bale is an online game called ‘Whack A Cat Woman’ showing lots of wheelie bins with Bale’s head popping in and out of them randomly, a version of ‘Whack-A-Mole’. The aim is to hot the bin she comes out of and the lid slams on her.
While this is a funny story and it does make light of the situation, animal cruelty is not funny. Lola could have been hurt, luckily she came out of it unharmed.
1 Comment – Post a comment
SwooshMe
Commented 17 months ago - 10th September 2010 - 15:28pm
Ahhhhh the poor kitty! Who knows what possessed Mary to do that? But I bet she wont be pulling a stunt like that again in a hurry. People can do some funny things sometimes. I'm just glad Lola is safe. Meow :)