The British woman who sparked an Internet frenzy for throwing a cat into the trash now says her actions were "completely out of character" and meant as a "joke."
Mary Bale, 45, was caught on CCTV petting four-year-old tabby cat Lola before picking her up, tossing her into a trash can and closing the lid. When Lola's owners posted the clip online, it sparked a terse reaction from animal lovers and advocates which allegedly culminated in a series of death threats against Bale, an unmarried banker and resident of Coventry, England.
"I want to take this opportunity to apologize profusely for the upset and distress that my actions have caused," she told the Daily Mail. "I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners."
Still, Bale felt the outcry had been blown out of proportion. "I don't know what the fuss is about. It's just a cat," the Mail reported her as saying. "I did it as a joke because I thought it would be funny. I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out." She later retracted those comments, as seen in the video below.
Watch reporters try to confront Bale about her actions:
VIDEO of the her tossing the cat: