Joca Case: MT Public Defender requests compensation of R$ 10 million and suspension of animal transport to Gol | Mato Grosso

The Public Defender’s Office of Mato Grosso (DPMT) filed a public lawsuit this Monday (6) for moral damages, in the amount of R$ 10 million, against the company Gol Linhas Aéreas and the suspension of all animal transport by Gollog, for an indefinite periodafter death of the dog Joca during a company air transport.

The defender responsible for the action, Willian Zuqueti, requires the company to present to the Court a detailed report on the operational failure that led to Joca’s deathas well as the safety protocol that will be adopted if the activity is resumed.

The pet should have been taken from Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo, to Sinop, 480 km from Cuiabá, but was placed on a plane that boarded for Fortaleza (CE). The animal ended up being sent back to Guarulhos and, when the owner arrived to pick him up, the dog was dead.

Dog dies during airline transport

According to the defense, the action seeks to send a clear message that this type of incident cannot be tolerated and demand measures to prevent possible similar cases.

Willian further explained that the Public Defender’s Office is not representing João Fantazzini, Joca’s guardian, but rather the rights of all consumers and animals.

The owner of the dog that died in Gol’s air transport, João Fantazzini Júnior, said that the most painful thing is knowing that Joca suffered before he died. The golden retriever boarded on Monday (22), bound for Sinop, in Mato Grosso, but, due to an error by the airline Gol, ended up going to Fortaleza, Ceará.

According to the owner, a veterinary certificate was presented to the airline which indicated that the animal would survive a two and a half hour journey. However, due to the company’s error, Joca spent almost 8 hours on the journey.

The five-year-old golden retriever Joca was taken to Fortaleza by mistake and spent around 1h30min on the arrivals and departures runway, with a temperature of around 36°C, according to the family, inside the kennel, without eating.

In a statement, Gol stated that it was surprised by Joca’s death because he had received care from the team in the capital of Ceará. According to the company, the death occurred shortly after landing in Guarulhos (read the full note below).

According to the blog of journalist Andréa Saddi, from GloboNews, a meeting held between the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) and the Ministry of Ports and Airports with representatives of airlines – including Gol – defined on Friday (25) actions to improve the transport of animals in aircraft holds.

5 actions were defined together with representatives from Gol, Latam, Azul Linhas Aéreas and the Brazilian Association of Airlines (Abear):

• Holding public hearings to review and improve the transportation of animals on flights in Brazil and abroad;
• Companies committed to submitting proposals and suggestions within 10 days;
• Airlines will study whether it is feasible to track animals transported in aircraft holds;
• The Ministry will invite representatives from the National Congress to a meeting to collect suggestions to improve the air transport of animals;
• It will then be up to the Ministry to launch a National Policy for Air Transport of Animals (in the acronym PNTAA) to “guarantee greater safety and well-being for animals” in the 1st half of this year.

“GOL deeply regrets what happened to the dog Joca and sympathizes with the pain of his owner. The Company informs that the dog Joca should have gone to Sinop (OPS), on flight 1480 on 04/22, from Guarulhos (GRU), however, due to an operational failure the animal was boarded on a flight to Fortaleza (FOR).

As soon as the tutor arrived in Sinop, he was notified about what had happened and his choice was to return to Guarulhos (GRU) to meet Joca again.

The GOLLOG team in the capital of Ceará disembarked the Joca and took care of it until it boarded flight 1527 back to Guarulhos (GRU). During this period, records of Joca being accommodated back on the aircraft were sent to the guardian. Unfortunately, shortly after the flight landed at Guarulhos airport (GRU), coming from Fortaleza, we were surprised by the death of the animal.”