January 4, 2022

10:01

Bruno Pacheco – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – A segment that still walks an arduous path in the search for improvements, the animal cause gains more and more strength in Amazonas. In this year of presidential elections, in the dispute for the position of state lawmaker, at least three names have been remembered by the segment, said to be defenders of animal rights.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the state lawmaker and lawyer Joana Darc (PL), who has been active in the animal protection cause since she was a teenager, said that she is a natural candidate for reelection, but that she does not intend to run for senator or federal lawmaker. The congresswoman has more than 12 years as an activist of the movement when she became a volunteer, in 2010, in the group Animal Compassion.

“I have been building practically from scratch a public policy for animal welfare. Besides, now as Joaquim’s mother, who is a person with disabilities (PcD), I embraced the cause of this public, for years doomed to neglect. There are many missions as a state lawmaker. To work on the needs of our people from here, up close. This is my goal at this moment”, declared the congresswoman.

Joana Darc remembers that the animal cause was a forgotten agenda, because there was no public policy in Amazonas state aimed at this issue; besides, many people disbelieved in this flag. “Until I entered the political life, first as a councilwoman and now as a state lawmaker, there was no public policy in the state focused on domestic fauna. So much so that when a woman came to raise this flag, many were the ones who disbelieved in this agenda”, she pointed out.

“We didn’t have any ‘Castramóvel’ and now we have five units. We also have a forecast of the delivery of the Veterinary Public Hospital for this year. We are discussing the creation of a broad and perpetual public policy for animal welfare, listening to agencies, entities, and protectors. The challenges and needs of animals in Amazonas are countless, but I remain firm in my purpose of making the state a pioneer in animal protection”, reinforced Representative Joana Darc.

More structure

In the fight since 2009 for justice and equality for animal victims of mistreatment in Manaus, the veterinary student and pet rights activist Amauri Gomes (No party) is also being quoted in the electoral scenario. On social networks, where he has over 50 thousand followers on Instagram alone, Amauri has stood out for denouncing crimes against animals and questioning the lack of assistance from public authorities.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the activist said that the animal cause is still very much abandoned by the public power and that it needs more structure, either police or health. “The animal cause is still very much abandoned by the public power. Recently, some politicians have entered carrying this flag, but they don’t do any work”, said the student Amauri Gomes.

The student reinforced to CENARIUM that he is looking for an organization to join and run for the position of state lawmaker in Amazonas in the 2022 elections. For the electoral dispute, Amauri Gomes stresses that he intends to raise concrete agendas and request, in addition to more structure to take care of animals, a new specialized police station aimed at protecting pets.

“We are analyzing the scenario to see if our candidacy is viable; we received invitations from some parties, but we are analyzing. However, our intention is to run for state deputy. We are independent and we seek to work right for right. We are open to talking”, he pointed out.

Awareness

João Kennedy de Lima Marques, or just Kennedy Marques, is a first-term councilman of the City Council of Manaus (CMM) and his main agenda is the fight for the rights of animals. Although he has not yet pronounced his intentions for the 2022 elections, he is also remembered as one of the possible names running for one of the 24 seats in the Amazonas State Legislative Assembly (Aleam).

Councilman Kennedy Marques is an activist defender of the animal cause, besides being president of the Environment Commission of CMM and founder of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) ‘Street Angels’, which has as one of the goals to promote the castration of animals.

In the City Council of Manaus, Councilman Kennedy is the author of the Project of Law 124/2021, which institutes public utility advertisement for awareness of issues related to the animal cause, in television and public spaces destined to publicity. The parliamentarian is also the author of a project that makes mandatory the provision of assistance to animals run over by drivers in the capital of Amazonas.