Wednesday 25 August 2010

The most famous cat in England...


This posting is primarily for overseas readers as there can't be a single person (well maybe the odd contemplative monk) in the British Isles who doesn't know this story by now. The clip above shows a middle aged woman walking down the pavement in a residential street in Coventry. A cat approaches her and hops into the wall. She strokes it and then looks over her shoulder. An evil plot is being hatched in her mind. She lifts the bin lid and seizes the cat by the scruff of the neck and deposits her (name of Lola and aged 4) in the bin. The cat was trapped in the bin for 15 hours on a hot day and without food or drink until found by her owner, a Mr Mann, 'terrified and covered in her own mess'. Poor Lola is a rescue cat. In an attempt to find the miscreant, Mr and Mrs Mann put the above CCTV footage on YouTube (422,629 hits and rising).

A facebook group (5,000+ members) was set up to help identify the woman. She was duly identified and her address and home telephone number is on the internet. She has become a hate object of the type unseen since the expiry of the late Myra Hindley and is presently under police protection. She lives in Rugby and works in a bank. A virtual storm is working up in cyberspace. 'Boycott the bank this evil woman works in, hope she gets the sack' announces Jack from Ashford on the Daily Mail (what else) website (the rabbit is of the opinion that the bank she works in - the Royal Bank of Scotland - should be boycotted anyway as incompetent, greedy tossers). PhantomAct counters on YouTube 'Am a dog person. From my experience, people who like cats are most likely to betray you or stab you in the back. Most evil guys in movies had cats. See! So she did something good'.

Hmmm....

The miscreant, named Mary Bale (45), has now spoken to her less than adoring public. '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' she helpfully explains. 'I did it as a joke...I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out of the bin' our non-heroine elaborated. These pronouncements seem to contravene the rule 'if you are in a hole (as opposed to bin) stop digging' as is her comment 'I don't know what the fuss is about, it's just a cat'. The police and RSPCA want to have a word, but this is the least of Ms Bale's problems as may be gathered from the following facebook comments:

'She should come clean and put her hands up, and APOLOGISE to the owners, then we can skin her'.

'I hope the evil cow tops herself '

'Iwant to put a vigilante mask on and beat the crap out of her and dump HER in a bin'

'If you see her go and punch her in the face!'

'God help them if the Stoke lynch mob get to them first'

I'm not sure who the 'them' referred to in the last quote are, but the Stoke lynch mob sounds an unattractive prospect.


Meanwhile the cartoonists have been busy (Hat Tip to Frank Davis for quotes and cartoon) ...

The rabbit will now sit back and duck. But two thoughts arise. One, Mary Bale's mistake (well she made a series but bear with me) was to perpetrate this misdeed in August when there is a dearth of proper news. The media were very quickly all over the story like a rash. Ms Bale has no doubt discovered that there are disadvantages to the Warhol fifteen minutes fame. Secondly, albeit that the rabbit (who is fond of cats and has lived with at least one most of his life) accepts that she did a cruel and stupid thing, there is something deeply unattractive about the baying lynch mob in Orwellian 'two minutes hate' mode. By way of reassurance, here is Lola, safely restored to the loving arms of Mr Mann.

Okay - the temptation is irresistible...


13 comments:

savannah said...

slow news on this side of the pnd, too, sugar! i saw it on cnn and bbc america. xoxoxo

Verdant Earl said...

That's a freaking evil woman! Ugh...I hate people.

sybil law said...

I've definitely never seen it.
What the HELL, woman?! What a freakshow. I'll bet people at work couldn't stand her even before this ridiculousness.

JoJo said...

Poor li'l kitteh. The more I interact w/ humans, the more I prefer the company of my pets.

word verif: miscart

Petit fleur said...

I wonder why humans are attracted to being cruel, just because they can.
sigh.

Glad Kitty's ok.

unique_stephen said...

Evil.
I still hate cats tho.
They are bad news in Australia.
She should have made a hat out of it like this bloke

Catch Her in the Wry said...

They have blasted this story all over the US media, but now they're on to "BED BUG EPIDEMIC!"

I do agree with you that it was a horrible deed but the madding crowd is just as bad.

The Dental Maven said...

Isn't there a positive correlation between animal cruelty and child abuse? Bitch is CRA-ZAY!

Sarcastic Bastard said...

I would like to have 5 minutes alone with Mary Bale. I hope she rots in hell or at least in a hot garbage bin.

white rabbit said...

Thanks to all - people don't seem to come out of this too well...

Stephen - That hat is well nasty!

Catchy - Sorry about the BED BUG EPIDEMIC! - I saw front page story in a tabloid today - it read BIG BRUV CHANELLE: I BEDDED PRESTON. I wondered if I was in some way disconnected from reality in not having a clue what on earth this was about...

Then I reminded myself of the old saying: do not adjust your mind - there is a fault with reality.

LesleyAlmost said...

After your visit to my blog, I wanted to come and see yours. A balanced view of the silly season reporting....

It was both a cruel and tremendously stupid thing that woman did. I think she needs a good talking to by the police and the RSPCA but I also think the public are too willing to take on a 'lynch mob' mentality these days.

Nice blogpost:)

Lesley

tony said...

Maybe the story is the purrfect metaphor for modern Britain?

white rabbit said...

Lesley - And a warm welcome to my humble blog. We seem to agree on the topic...

Tony - Boom! Boom! As Basil Brush would say...