If you live in the UK, you must have by now heard about the Coventry woman who dumped a cat in a wheelie bin (BBC News). The cat spent 15 unhappy hours in the bin until found by its owners, and the cat-dumper, Mary Bale, was, unluckily for her, caught on CCTV. The RSPCA’s now considering bringing charges, and crowds of people with nothing better to do won’t leave the woman alone. (Note: I find Bale’s actions distasteful and I do hope the RSPCA charges her with a cruelty offence, but going mob-handed to her home and chanting ‘I love pussy’ isn’t going to help anyone.)

In a ray of light on the entire incident, we at least get to see how an old person leapt to the defence of the cat-binner, who may now be about to lose her job as a bank teller. According to the Daily Mail (and, let’s face it, this is the Daily Mail, so this might just be made-up, but, hey, it’s funny anyway), 78-year-old Jean Thompson said: “The only explanation I can think of is that she was worried that the cat might get run over on the road and wanted to keep it safe in the bin.”

To be fair, roads are dangerous to cats, but I’d suggest starving to death in a sealed, thick plastic cage that you’re dropped into by a stranger is a bigger threat.