The owners of a cat which was thrown into a wheelie bin have appealed to those angered by the abuse not to "take matters into their own hands".
The RSPCA launched an investigation after a grey-haired woman was captured on CCTV dumping rescue cat Lola into a large green rubbish bin.Lola's owner Stephanie Mann, 24, said: "I can't believe the reaction to the story. I only posted it on Facebook because I wanted to see who she was.
"Whatever she has done, I don't like her, but I don't want her to get hurt."
Mrs Mann and her husband Daryll said they did not expect the reaction that occurred after they posted the footage from outside their home in the Stoke area of Coventry.
The cat, which was trapped for 15 hours, emerged unscathed but the footage posted on social networking site Facebook provoked viewer outrage.
"Locals here have been pretty disgusted," Lisa Dowd added.
"West Midlands Police are taking her safety extremely seriously."
The cat's owners urge the public to act responsibly over the woman's behaviour.
"Now that the police know who she is, I think people should leave it to them and the RSPCA and not take matters into their own hands," Mrs Mann said.
"It needs to be dealt with properly, not by people getting aggressive with her."
