This is such an appalling news item I dont know why more hasnt been said about it

[Marshtit]

Men admit animal cruelty after sheep dies on Ditchling Beacon - BBC News

It is an absolutely horrible act, of course. But I'm not sure it is a huge news story. It's not a trend, or something that needs political action. It is just the standard example of the type of depravity that has always occurred from time to time.

It does show how random the allocation of news attention is, though. The men who cut down a tree at the Sycamore Gap of Hadrian's Wall got wall to wall coverage (and a four-year sentence) for cutting down a tree - incapable of suffering - whose sole claim to fame is that it happens to be in a picturesque spot.

It is indeed horribly cruel OP but these things have happened on a semi-regular basis forever. It's not really news.

I agree with PP who said the coverage of the Sycamore Gap issue was very random - I think completely unecesssary. Yes it was sad and a dickish thing to do but hardly warranted all the coverage.

Going back a few years I am thinking of the woman who put the cat in the wheelie bin. A bit of a bonkers thing to do, unfair on the mog, but she hardly deserved the outrage.

I agree with you. I think animal cruelty should absolutely be highlighted more and the people who do it should be named and shamed, and prosecuted. Violence against vulnerable people is seen as horrific and garner harsh sentences, the same should go for violence against animals.

they were students at the agriculture college - or at least they were involved i believe.

Two agricultural students arrested after sheep ‘blown up with a firework’ | The Independent

i agree about the sycamore gap tree,
what a lot of coverage that got

I was happy the Sycamore gap tree got a lot of coverage. It wasn't a random tree, it attracted tourists and was well-known. It was an act of vandalism against a well-loved symbol of the beauty of nature, and also destroyed part of a wall that is thousands of years old and part of the history of an entire nation. The crime you mention OP is against a sheep without any particular significance, so it won't get the same amount of coverage (which doesn't mean it isn't a horrendous crime!)

That’s appalling, and troubling that they were agricultural students. Mind, my friend’s dad was a stable lad and he could be very cruel.

Some of the cruelest people I have ever seen work with animals. Fortunately, some of the kindest too.

And this is why it needs to be highlighted more. Same with people working with the elderly and children. They can also be very cruel. It is known that in caring type roles (I include working with animals there) that people will run out of patience after a certain amount of time. Also, there are those who want to use their position to gain access to those they wish to harm

Yes she bloody did.

Why? What real harm was done?

I mean, it was a bonkers thing to do but she actually got death threats and called the most evil woman in Britain. It was ridiculous.

Not much, thank goodness. Would have been a very different story if a bin man had tipped the poor, scared creature into a crusher.

Well, if the cat hadn't been rescued it would have been tipped into a bin lorry and crushed to death. Or died of heat stroke in the bin.

Quite troubling that you don't consider that 'harm'!

I think it's good that people who do this sort of thing are brought to justice. This won't be the only thing they've done. The sort of people who blow sheep up, destroy landmarks and put cats in bins are not normal, law abiding decent people the rest of the time. This won't be a one-off.

Fucking psychopaths.

Well, of course. But none of that happened.

She did something really stupid, but did she deserve the harassment she got?

When you have cases such as in the OP which barely get a mention?

She was lucky someone found the cat in time, but that doesn't negate what she did. We can only judge her on HER actions, which was putting the cat in the bin. The fact someone else found it and prevented the cat being crunched up in a rubbish truck isn't relevant to what sort of a person she is.

They caused suffering to people who loved that tree

It was only by chance the woman was caught on camera and without any means of escape from the wheelie bin with the closed lid, the cat could have died of thirst before being found