Orelha, a stray dog cared for by the Praia Brava community, Florianópolis neighborhoodin the south of Brazil, achieved what even the covid-19 pandemic did achieved: uniting the very polarized country, from the left to the most radical right. The torture and death of the animal, allegedly by a group of teenagers completing a macabre internet challenge, has shocked Brazilians since the case was made public in mid-January.
Mário Motta, a deputy from the PSD, a party that calls itself center, right and left, put forward a bill to toughen the punishment for those involved in crimes of animal abuse, informally called the “Orelha Law”. Humberto Costa, one of the most vocal senators from Lula da Silva’s PT, called for urgency in the vote. And deputies Captain Alden and Rosana Valle, from Jair Bolsonaro’s PL, are writing other projects on the case.
For once, trans parliamentarian Erika Hilton, from PSOL, the most left-wing of Brazilian parties, and Nikolas Ferreira, a kind of prodigy of Bolsonarism already condemned in the Chamber of Deputies for transphobic speech, had convergent interventions in parliament.
By Fabiano Contarato, deputy gay PT, Júlia Zanatta, a parliamentarian accused of association with Nazism, everyone was outraged by the episode, including senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the most conservative candidate for the presidency of the Republic in 2026, and first lady Janja da Silva, wife of re-election candidate Lula.
On Sunday, February 1st, Avenida Paulista, in São Paulothe scene of so many demonstrations by Bolsonarists and some by Lulistas in recent years, it was the scene of an act demanding justice for Orelha. Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Porto Alegre, Caxias do Sul, Manaus, Rio Branco, Campinas, São José do Rio Preto, Araçatuba, Belém, Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro also organized protests.
Cities in the state of Santa Catarina, such as Balneário Camboriú, Blumenau, Criciúma and São José, brought together indignant protesters, as well as Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina, where the crime took place, which brought together friends of the dog himself, holding posters, shouting slogans and walking with pets on their laps.
On social media, petitions reached more than 200,000 signatures calling for exemplary punishment for those responsible.
But what happened, after all, at Praia Brava, the home of the popular Orelha? On January 5th, the 10-year-old dog, fed by residents and businesses in the neighborhood and considered a mascot by beachgoers, was found seriously injured, taken to a veterinary clinic and euthanized due to the severity of the injuries, especially on the head, probably committed by objects such as sticks or bottles.
The suspects in the attack are four teenagers, whose names have not been released.in light of the Child and Adolescent Statute, two of which were targets of a police operation in Florianópolis on January 26th. The others were seized upon returning from a pre-scheduled trip to Disney World, in the USA.
According to Mardjoli Valcareggi, the police officer in charge of the case, the identification of the suspects was made based on witness statements, including that of a doorman insulted by the teenagers on the night of the crime who saw them vandalize a beach kiosk, and on the analysis of surveillance camera records in the region in the same period, totaling more than a thousand hours. The investigations are also investigating whether there is a connection with the drowning weeks before of another stray dog, Caramelo, on the same beach.
In addition to the four teenagers, three adults, the young people’s parents and an uncle, are suspected of coercing and threatening that doorman, who has been away from work for security reasons. The police are working on the possibility that the criminals acted driven by a sinister game online.
For pediatrician Daniel Becker, columnist for the newspaper The Globe“extreme violence does not come out of nowhere”. “Boys learn by observing, and the first mirror is the family. Parents who express racism, xenophobia and contempt for the poorest, teach violence and intolerance. Permissive parents, who do not impose limits and responsibility, who relativize deviations, who confuse protection with cover-up, who use money, influence or intimidation to ensure impunity – as seems to have happened in this case – teach privilege, the absence of empathy, show that the law does not apply to everyone. This creates little monsters.”
“The second mirror is the digital world”, adds the writer. “Unlimitedly immersed in social media, Discord, Telegram and certain games, boys are exposed daily to content of absolute and brutal violence. Homeless people set on fire, lynchings, police executions. On Discord, animals are brutally tortured live. The trivialization of crime and the naturalization of violence desensitizes their souls.”
Leave a Reply