‘A Causa’ translates to ‘The Cause’, find out more as we meet Tiago’s Mãe…
Strays and futebol appear unrelated until image-conscious political officials enter the fray. Deus created all life and only He can take it. Exceptions are made for cows when a nation’s cuisine and export industries are based on their slaughter. Exceptions can be made for stray dogs too, when Brasil wants to clean up for tourists. Strays were no longer akin to the beloved prize animals kept domestically. Behind the iron gates through which they poke their similar heads and cry their similar barks. They were now a lucrative contract for any enterprising waste collection and disposal company.
The purge. In Cuiaba alone the state was offering near a million Reais for the ‘capture’ of five thousand dogs. In a country full of Catholics, euthanasia had become state policy. Yet the wording of the policy was inaccurate, as euthanasia means mercy-killing. To Mãe, this was extermination.
The stray population declined sharply and with intent. The promised rehousing-shelters remained elusive, much as no one really knows where other waste finds its final resting place. An inconvenient truth best left ignored.
Mãe was appalled. This couldn’t, não, would not remain discreet. She had launched an online petition to ensure such heinous acts would not pass unnoticed if ‘that filho da puta Putin’ plotted the same for the upcoming competition in Russia. It was fast gaining signatures. Tiago had explained the meaning of viral to her.
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