The story about a Coventry woman who was filmed putting a cat in a wheelie bin has made its way to the US, the LA Times reports. Here in the UK, the story has been followed by a number of papers including the Daily Mail.
The woman was filmed by a private CCTV camera as she walked along a suburban street in Coventry. She stopped to stroke the cat (called Lola) before grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and throwing it into the bin. She then shut the lid and walked away.
The cat's owners, Stephanie and Darryl Mann, alerted by her mewing, found her 15 hours later, very scared and covered in her own mess. They posted the video from the camera on Facebook and YouTube in an attempt to track the woman down.
The Guardian has reported that the woman has now been identified and is to be interviewed by the animal protection charity, the RSPCA. She has not, however, been arrested as she has not committed a criminal offence.
Much as I love cats (I am the proud owner of a particularly beautiful one), it's just a pity that films taken on mobile phones showing women being abused (for instance in Afghanistan) aren't received with the same level of outrage.
Thanks to Emine Dilek for this story.
