Cat-Bin Lady

AUG 21 2010 · 12:00

Cat rescued from fire. The dignified opposite of the Coventry CCTV clip that turned a stranger into a viral villain. Place: Coventry, England Figures: Mary Bale, 45, bank worker · Lola, the cat · Stephanie and Darryl Andrews-Mann, the cat's owners and CCTV operators On 21 August 2010, a CCTV camera mounted outside the Andrews-Mann home in Coventry records a 45-year-old bank worker named Mary Bale stopping to stroke a tabby cat named Lola on a garden wall, lifting the cat by the scruff, and placing it into the green wheelie bin on the curb. She closes the lid. She walks away. The cat is in the bin for fifteen hours before being heard and rescued. The owners post the CCTV clip to Facebook. By 24 August it is on every UK news channel. The Bale identification happens within 48 hours via Facebook crowdsourcing. The looping GIF of the dumping action arrives in parallel with the news story. Mary Bale receives death threats and police protection. Video: ITN news report carrying the Andrews-Mann CCTV clip from Stoke Heath, Coventry, 21 August 2010. Mary Bale lifts Lola off the garden wall and drops her into the green bin in under fifteen seconds.