Mary Bale ~ How To Be A Victim
I don't think I need to host a video of the animal cruelty story of the week ~ Mary Bale the RBS employee who was caught on CCTV dumping a cat in a wheelie bin. Her actions resulted in the cat, Lola, being trapped for nearly 16 hours before her owners discovered the cat terrified in her own mess.
Britain, the most CCTV-ed nation in the world, soon gave birth to a new internet sensation that wasn't quite as heart-warming as the Susan Boyle lovefest. Before she knew it, Mary Bale was a YouTube and Facebook star ~ her disgusting and unforgivable act doing the viral faster than it takes a status update to publish.
Sadly, the keyboard heroes of the world expressed their vitriol in threats of violence and even death threats. They not only lowered themselves to her level, they succeeded in making her a victim.
Instead of West Midlands Police investigating her behaviour, they spent tax-payers money giving her Police protection. Whilst they claimed the muscles outside her home were not actually Police Officers but Community Support Officers, one could accuse them of splitting hairs somewhat ~ someone pays for the protective presence, don't they?
Of course, in the face of the Facebook fanatics, what choice did they have but to protect her? Whatever my personal anger towards perpetrators of animal cruelty, I don't think we need to go the route of vigilantism and violent retribution when there is a legal system in place to deal with it. It does not matter whether the threats were made with the intention of follow through or not, they have been made with the intention of intimidating someone and how is that behaviour any better than what happened to the cat?
Sadly, that legal system seems to be somewhat remiss when West Midlands Police suggest they are working with the RSPCA but suggested that no crime has been committed. I'm no expert on the laws of England & Wales ~ but if this is true then surely something needs to change, doesn't it?
I hope the RSPCA do prosecute Mary Bale for animal cruelty and that she is found guilty. I also hope that her actions are not minimised by the abusive hordes who, in making her a victim, give her the space to shirk responsibility for her behaviour.
But I wonder ~ why did the cat's owners go to the internet first, rather than the Police?
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Tags: animal cruelty, facebook, internet bullying, mary bale, rspca, west midlands police, woman throws cat in wheelie bin
Posted on August 26, 2010 in Opinionated, Wordy.
“…legal system seems to be somewhat remiss … no crime has been committed… the laws .. needs to change …”
People need to gain some bloody perspective. Any prospective punishment, or lack thereof, is totally in proportion to the act committed; it’s not as though she brained the animal with a club and posted the video on youtube (viz the ‘Urban Fox Hunters’ following the recent media hysteria over alleged fox attacks on children). The cat was put in a bin; if anything like mine it would probably have slept for much of those 16 hours. Worse things are done to chickens, pigs, etc in the name of cheap supermarket food.
People need to get a grip.
The above comment was left by someone so wishing to remain anonymous that they visited my blog using a proxy server to hide their IP address (hidemyass.com). I’m honoured.
sorry…. I think she caused unnecessary suffering to the cat and deserves to be punished. The fact that the cat was found in its own mess shows that it must have been terrified! (Cats are extremely clean animals who don’t foul their own confined spaces unless they have to). If it had been a child she would have been arrested and in my eyes there is no difference- it was a vulnerable, defenceless creature unable to defend itself from a sicko!
Taex you are too kind ….
Hi Jo,
I agree with you – she should be punished. For me it isn’t just the fact that Lola was trapped and stressed for 16 hours, it’s also the fact Mary Bale put her in a *bin* – a bin that could so easily have been emptied into a rubbish lorry before anyone realised Lola was in it. I think that should also be taken into account when considering a punishment for Mary Bale – that she chose to take that risk with an animal’s life.
I assume you mean I am being too kind to the person who commented above…? I’m actually amazed that someone would state they wouldn’t mind that happening to their pet – no wonder they hid their location! Another reason why laws around the treatment and the ownership of animals don’t go far enough.