As street dogs go, Orelha was one of the lucky ones. Though he had no owner, this gentle mongrel was well loved and looked after by the local community of Praia Brava, a beachside neighbourhood in the southern Brazilian city of Florianópolis.
But last month poor Orelha’s luck ran out. After the alarm had been raised about his disappearance it was one of his local carers who found the 10-year old mutt hidden under a parked car. He had suffered serious wounds to his head and was rushed to a vet. But so grave was the trauma the decision was taken to put him out of his suffering.
Since then grim details of the case have come to light. Video evidence from security cameras appears to show one group of adolescents trying to drown Orelha’s street buddy Caramelo the night he disappeared. And a doorman who witnessed some of the events on the beach that night was later intimidated by relatives of another adolescent suspect.
Orelha’s terrible fate convulsed Brazil, mobilising street protests and petitions for stronger legal protections for animals. In a country where so much violence has left the population inured to often shocking atrocities, some with much higher human death tolls, the question is why has Orelha’s fate cut through this resignation?
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In part it is the contrast between photos of Orelha’s big friendly smile and the violence of his end. Brazilians love their dogs.
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Globally Brazil’s pet dog population is second only to the one in the US. In recent years there has been a huge movement to promote the adoption of vulnerable street dogs like Orelha (the Portuguese for Ear). Millions of homes across Brazil saw his photo and looked at their own four-pawed loved ones and felt this case viscerally.
Also his widely reported trusting nature and how this left him vulnerable to those who would do him harm seems to have resonated with Brazilians, proud of their reputation for friendliness but exasperated by their society’s endemic violence which has made so many of them its victims.
But there is also anger at the dubious nature of the investigation into the case, which many Brazilians have concluded is connected to the well-off background of some of those allegedly involved. Public prosecutors returned the original police file saying it was full of holes and demanded better. It is still not clear what the links are between the supposed attempt to drown Caramelo, the attack on Orelha and the intimidation of the witness by adult relatives of one suspect.
Even the detective running the case, who became something of a national figure after he adopted Caramelo, is now himself under investigation for abuse of authority, violation of professional secrecy and administrative misconduct. He has since announced his resignation from the force, saying he will run in October’s general election for a seat in his state’s legislative assembly.
Public confidence that justice will still be done by Orelha is extremely low. The danger is this strengthens the appeal of bad ideas.
Many are calling for a lowering of the age of criminal responsibility, long a demand of the hard right. Vigilantism is also in the air. The young suspects have not been named by the police but their identities and photos are all over social media, only for it to turn out at least one of them had no involvement. These posting have been accompanied by violent threats.
It would be a tragedy if understandable anger at the killing of Orelha boosted those calling for the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility. On its own this is not going to reduce Brazil’s high levels of violence and would likely become another weapon in the country’s long war on its own poor, who have few of the resources to play the system the way the better off can to escape justice.
And in Brazil vigilantism, devoid as it is of due process, inevitably devolves into the most vicious method by which the country’s strong prey on the weak.
Better for Orelha’s case to be investigated and prosecuted promptly and rigorously. And among some of the more sensible suggestions for punishing anyone found responsible is that they be forced to work in dog shelters until they properly comprehend the terrible consequences of their actions.
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As important is that the adults accused of wrongdoing in the case also be fully held to account. The charges against them mean many are in no doubt that a foul deed has been compounded by a display of parenting that reveals the deep origins of the crime on Praia Brava.
Dismantling this sense of impunity among Brazil’s privileged would seem to be the country’s best shot at a future where everyone, even the most vulnerable, even a street dog, can live and die with dignity.
But in reality few think any of this is likely to happen.
