A woman caught on camera dropping a cat into a wheelie bin has been identified and is to be interviewed by the RSPCA.
Police urged the public not to intervene in the investigation into the incident caught on CCTV on a quiet road in Coventry on Saturday night.
The middle-aged woman was seen stopping to stroke Lola the cat before lifting the lid of the bin, apparently dumping the four-year-old inside and walking off.
Lola eventually emerged unscathed after being trapped for 15 hours in the bin outside her owners' home. She was found by Stephanie Mann and her husband, Darryl, who heard the pet's cries and then reviewed footage of the incident taken by a camera they had had installed for security.
They posted the video on Facebook and YouTube in an attempt to track down the woman.
In a statement, Coventry police said they were supporting the investigation and "urge the public to leave the matter to be dealt with correctly by the authorities".
The woman had not been arrested "because she has not committed a criminal offence", the force said. "The woman is not being given police protection but Coventry police are making sure that the woman is OK, as they would any other member of their community."
Mrs Mann told the Coventry Evening Telegraph: "We were going to my mother-in-law's for Sunday lunch when we heard Lola miaowing painfully. We thought she might be trapped under the car because she sounded like she was hurt so we followed her cries and eventually found her in the bin.
"I was just disgusted. I was absolutely heartbroken to see how someone could just be so cruel. You can see on the footage that Lola didn't approach the woman, the woman went to her for a fuss. I don't know what went through her head but it was just disgusting to watch and it broke my eight-year-old daughter's heart."
