A woman was left in utter dismay and sorrow after her extensive four-day hunt for her lost cat concluded in devastating fashion.
Taking to TikTok, animal lover Charlie Harris shared her traumatic experience with followers, recalling her grim find and criticising her neighbour over false pretences. “This is a public service announcement, which I never thought I would have to make,” she announced at the outset of her video. “Even if you hate animals, this is not okay.”
Proceeding with a “trigger warning” due to the distressing details of her account, Charlie spoke out: “I genuinely cannot believe that someone would do this and then lie to my face for four days, watching me make myself ill, torturing myself. This situation would have been devastating either way, but it could have been made a loss less traumatic and she could have saved four days of pain.”
Charlie detailed the haunting moment five weeks prior when she discovered her beloved cat in her neighbour’s black bin, recalling her initial reaction of disbelief and denial. “I had two cats and four dogs – they are my babies. They are the reason I get up in the morning – they’re my purpose in life,” she told her followers.
The dedicated pet owner claimed to have coexisted “peacefully” in her community for nearly 10 years until the tragic disappearance of her cat, Bellatrix. Despite her intuition telling her the worst had happened, Charlie pushed on, sharing an image of the ‘missing’ poster she had put up as part of her fruitless search effort.
Charlie shared her harrowing experience: “Obviously I went round the neighbours’ houses and asked them to look in the sheds, garages,” she said. “I went to one lady’s house and gave her my leaflet, looked her in her eyes and said, ‘Have you seen my cat?’ She said, ‘Sorry and no’, but I knew she was lying – I could tell from her whole demeanour.”
Armed with a degree in psychology, Charlie trusted her gut feeling and returned to the woman’s home four days later, only to be met with the same denial about seeing Bellatrix, despite the neighbour sharing a story of her own lost cat. Frustrated, she recalled telling her partner they needed to check the lady’s bin, to which he responded that she was “crazy”.
As the day for rubbish collection loomed and with her partner out at work, Charlie enlisted the help of a friend’s “sniffer dog” for more answers. “I gave him [the dog] Bellatrix’s bed [to sniff] and he literally took us to the neighbour’s bin. I immediately knew, and there was my cat in a black bin bag covered up by other bin bags on top of her ready to go to the landfill the next day.”
Despite finding Bellatrix and confronting her neighbour calmly, Charlie expressed her dismay as the neighbour continued to “lie to my face”. She vented her frustration, saying: “How can somebody do that? Even after I got my cat out of the bin that she treated like trash, she almost took away any closure for me – and she took away Bellatrix’s dignity.”
Charlie concluded her tale by explaining that she had shown her other pets the tragic scene as “they understand death” and they too had been looking for Bellatrix. Despite the incident happening five weeks ago, there’s been no word of an apology from the neighbour. She revealed: “The police came, but unfortunately they said due to the laws in the UK, cats are free roaming animals and are classed as property, therefore I couldn’t do anything about it.”
After she received a flood of supportive messages on TikTok, one user suggested: “Have you considered taking out a civil claim against her? Maybe talk to Citizens Advice about what you can do.” To which Charlie responded: “Yes this is what I am thinking, it’s just I don’t have the funds to take her to court. But I’m definitely going to speak to them.”
Another individual expressed disgust, saying: “This made me sick to my stomach. I’m so tired of the cat hate, they’re literally our little family members! The law needs to change, I’m so sorry this happened to you.” A third chimed in with condolences: “Some people are just evil. I’m sorry for your loss. Another reason my cat baby will never be let outside to roam.”
Whilst a fourth TikTok user was left appalled: “So sorry for your loss, this is horrific! I’m in total shock of how anyone could do such a thing its heartbreaking.” Charlie further revealed her next steps: “I’m in the process of moving to protect my other babies and Luna will be staying in. At the new house we will have a catio and lots of stimulation for her. She’s not safe here.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.