MP-SC says that dog Orelha did not die from aggression and calls for the case to be closed

After analyzing around 2,000 documents, the Public Ministry of Santa Catarina (MP-SC) concluded that the community dog ​​Orelha, which died in January this year in Praia Brava, in Florianópolis, was not the victim of aggression by teenagers and that the animal already suffered from a serious illness. The statement was filed in court last Friday, the 8th, by three prosecutors, who asked for the case to be closed.

Preliminary information from the police indicated that four teenagers had attacked Orelha and Caramelo, another community dog, in the capital of Santa Catarina. As the investigations progressed, only one teenager was identified as the perpetrator of the attacks against Orelha, while another group was blamed for trying to drown Caramelo, who had survived the attacks.

Upon concluding the investigations, in February, the Civil Police requested the aggressor’s hospitalization and indicted three other adults for the crime of coercing witnesses. The names of those involved were not disclosed.

However, when the case reached the MP-SC, the 10th Public Prosecutor’s Office of Florianópolis, in the Childhood and Youth area, and the 2nd Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Capital, in the criminal area, pointed out the need for additional clarification on the case. They even requested the exhumation of the body of the community dog.

In March, the MP-SC also opened a civil inquiry to investigate the conduct of the former state delegate general, Ulisses Gabriel, who was the target of complaints for abuse of authority, violation of functional secrecy or act of administrative improbity. The delegate, who left office to launch his pre-candidacy for state deputy, denied the accusations at the time.

Now, having completed the analysis of the documents, which included reports and images from monitoring cameras, the MP-SC concluded that Orelha and the alleged attacker were not in the same place at the same time, contrary to what the Civil Police investigation maintained, according to which both would have remained simultaneously on the beach for around 40 minutes.

“The detailed reanalysis of the evidentiary material, however, revealed temporal inconsistencies that substantially modified this narrative,” stated the Santa Catarina Public Ministry.

To reach this conclusion, images from monitoring cameras in the condominium where the teenager lives were analyzed, as well as records from the Florianópolis public security system, which captured, respectively, the young man and the animal.

When comparing the records, the prosecution identified a lag of approximately 30 minutes between the devices. “This time difference is clearly noticeable due to the solar lighting conditions”, he highlighted.

Furthermore, prosecutors pointed out that while the teenager was filmed in the vicinity of the beach deck, Orelha was about 600 meters away. “Thus, the theory that both shared the same space for approximately 40 minutes, as stated in the police reports, cannot be sustained,” stated the MP-SC.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also highlighted that images of the community dog ​​walking down the street about an hour after the alleged aggression, with “full motor capacity and normal movement pattern”, weaken the thesis that the animal had been attacked on the beach and returned weakened due to “recent attacks”.

Prosecutors also ruled out the hypothesis that Orelha died from head trauma caused by mistreatment. This is because, after the expert report obtained with the exhumation of the animal’s body, “no fracture or injury compatible with human action was found”.

Furthermore, states the MP-SC, the report identified signs of osteomyelitis in the left maxillary region, a chronic bone infection. “The images of the skull attached to the files demonstrate a deep and old lesion, with hair loss, scaling and inflammation compatible with a prolonged infection,” say the prosecutors. “The location of the wound, below the left eye, is compatible with the edema observed by the veterinarian who treated the animal.”

The evidence shows that the dog had no cuts, tears or fractures, as pointed out by the police, but only a “marked swelling in the left region of the head and eye”.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office reinforces that, given this set of evidence, the hypothesis that the dog ‘Orelha’ succumbed to a serious clinical condition – and not to aggression – was the best supported by the elements produced in the case”, says the MP-SC.

The Public Ministry also highlighted the “complete absence” of images or witnesses that confirmed attacks on the dog Orelha in Praia Brava and stated that the version of mistreatment emerged from indirect narratives, “based on comments from third parties, rumors and content published on social networks”. This contributed to what prosecutors called an “early and mistaken determination of authorship” of the crime.

Caramel Dog

In the case involving the community dog ​​Caramelo, investigations also ruled out mistreatment by the teenagers. The police concluded that the young people were just playing with one of the animals on the beach, without attempting to drown, and surveillance images also dispelled the suspicion that the other dog had been thrown into a condominium, showing that the teenagers just took it to the location.

Court closes investigation that investigated coercion

The court also closed the investigation that investigated alleged coercion during the process involving the teenagers’ family members. According to the 2nd Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Capital, the incidents recorded in January 2026 were related to disagreements between teenagers and the doorman of a condominium, with no connection to the investigation into Orelha’s death.

According to the Public Ministry, there was no threat or violence with the aim of interfering in a judicial, police or administrative investigation, a necessary requirement to characterize this type of crime. Furthermore, the episode occurred even before the investigation into the dog’s death was launched and was considered an isolated case, with no further developments.