AN animal lover has spoken of his dismay after he rescued two cats that appeared to have been put out with the rubbish.

Bill Johnston, of Redcar, east Cleveland, saw a woman come down two flights of external stairs with a cat basket and a bag of rubbish and dump the basket beside an industrial bin, with the rubbish on top, in the Queen Street area of Redcar, while he was parked nearby.

When he opened the basket, he discovered two cats, believed to be about nine months old.

The find comes in the same week that Coventry woman Mary Bale was caught on CCTV camera stroking a cat, before picking it up and dumping it in a wheelie bin.

Mr Johnston, who was with a friend, contacted the RSPCA to ask what he should do with the abandoned cats.

He said: “I did not have the heart to leave them there in the pounding rain. The woman had definitely dumped the cats – she even put rubbish on top of them.

“We did try pounding on the back door of the yard, but as she was up two flights of stairs, she must not have heard us. We sat there for about half an hour in case she returned for them, but she didn’t.

“She had come down, wearing a mac with the hood up, in the pouring rain and just dumped them like they were rubbish, without a thought.”

Mr Johnston took them back to his bungalow overnight, and managed to get hold of a local RSPCA inspector on Tuesday, who agreed to pick up the cats the following day. He said: “I would keep the cats because I love animals, but I have a German shepherd dog and I do not think he would take too kindly to them.”