The role of animals in people’s life has gone long far beyond just being a “breadwinner”, “means of transportation”, “best friend” or “therapist” (from dog therapy or cat therapy).
The animals have been used for centuries as symbols that communicate a certain national identity and are also depicted on the coats of arms, stamps, rings, flags, and other artefacts of some countries or state entities, thus becoming a part of the political process.
Short reference to history
The history of this phenomenon has its roots in the ancient epoch and with the passage of time has undergone significant changes. It is well-known that in the ancient civilizations, such as Egyptians, ancient Greeks, Druids, the animal symbolism was tightly related to the mythology.
In the Middle Ages the use of animal illustrations becomes more meaningful, well-interpreted, and systematized.
Since then the symbolism of animals in politics hasn’t gone anywhere, but on the contrary is actively used across the globe. We are well acquainted with the animal totems associated with different countries in recent centuries:
Lion — the symbol of Great Britain; illustrates the leadership in the world and pride.
Eagle — the symbol of the American identity; represents superpower, courage, and fight for freedom.
Dragon — this mythical creature is the traditional symbol of China; demonstrates power, wealth, and mercy.
[Aggressive] bear — the symbol of the Russian Empire, later the Soviet Union, and finally their successor — the Russian Federation.
Why so? Perhaps, the use of metaphors with animals serves as a universal tool to explain ourselves or a country on a global scale?
In the XXI century, the role of animals reached another level. Nowadays alive animals become independent political figures around which a certain national legend is built.
Revolutionary dog
In 2011 in Santiago, the capital of Chile, the protests of high school and university students erupted aiming to reform the education system and make education affordable for all social groups of the population. At that time mostly the children of wealthy people had access to the best schools in LATAM region, while poor kids could only study in public underfunded, and neglected institutions.
From several thousand to hundreds of thousands of young people took part in the protests. The reaction of police forces was violent. The protesters were dispersed by water cannons & tear gas, arrested and beaten. Tanks and armed vehicles were driving the streets.
At the beginning of ‘Chilean Winter’ in 2011 the street dog Bebe joined the protesters. He barked and rushed at police officers who tried to suppress the actions. Bebe was always ahead of the crowd as if he protected the students from the cops. That’s why he was given a combat nickname ‘Matapacos’ [a Chilean word which literally means “the cops’ killer”].
The dog Bebe became an active participant of the demonstrations. For being a day-to-day protester, the dog received the red bandanna from one of the students. This unusual dog's look attracted a lot of attention from the media; his pictures were shared virally in social networks.
So, the dog Bebe became very popular among Chileans and transformed into a symbol of the students' protest movement which lasted for a couple of years.
In 2017 Bebe died from a heart attack, but his story didn’t end there.
In 2019 a new wave of mass demonstrations was rolling through Chile, this time even of a bigger amplitude. Hundreds of thousands of Chileans went out into the streets of Santiago and other cities for justice and equality. They were outraged by metro price increase, inflation, youth unemployment, and social inequality. Also, this social explosion was partially caused by unsolved problems in the education system.
“The dog that became the global symbol of protest, unity and stability in Chile.”
And again, the dog Bebe became a symbol of the fight for social justice. His image was everywhere — on the posters of the demonstration attendees; on the murals and street graffiti around the country; on the patches and T-shirts; as a monument in Santiago; in the form of statuettes sold in souvenir shops. Subsequently, he gained international fame — as a sign of solidarity with the protesters the graffiti with the revolutionary dog was drawn in Tokyo and New York.
The image of the black dog “Matapacos” became a part of pop culture. Other dog owners started to imitate him by dressing their pets with red bandannas. The animated film was produced, also the students made a documentary about him. There is a website with his sketches, portraits, caricatures; one can buy souvenirs with his image on the internet.
The cult of Bebe as a symbol of a better life continues to exist nowadays.
Demining dog
Ukraine has its own true legend — the dog Patron, an explosives sniffer and a political figure.
The dog serves in State Emergency Service since the beginning of 2020. But he appears in public space only in March of 2022 with the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine. Then for the first time, Ukraine faced massive random mining of its territory and civil buildings by Russian occupiers.
Since then Patron helped in finding explosives on the de-occupied territories and the videos with the results of his work were intensively shared on the internet. Gradually the dog turned into a symbol of a struggle with mining and dangerous substances brought by the war.
Unfortunately, Ukraine remains to be the most mined country in the world. So, to attract the world community's attention to this problem the dog Patron moved to the international political arena and started meeting the leaders of other countries such as Justine Trudeau, Antony Blinken, Rishi Sunak, and many others.
The demining dog has also become the first UNICEF Goodwill Dog-Ambassador to be able to better inform a wider community about explosive substances, risks related to the emergency situations, and to support the mental health of children, teenagers and youth affected by the war.
The dog Patron also became part of Ukrainian pop culture and kids’ favorite. Like Bebe, Patron is everywhere — in the songs, cartoons, postmarks, souvenirs and children’s toys. He has his own website and Instagram page.
Although the dog is supposed to be a funny character, but indeed he carries an important humanitarian mission — first of all to explain to the children how to deal with suspicious things. This is the Ukrainian reality.
Final thoughts
So, the role of animals in our lives underwent an unbelievable transformation: from an exploitation object to a pet and finally to an equal participant in the political process.
We call them “family members”, send them to the animal hotels, take them to manicure salons and they accompany us in defending our rights. And this is truly amazing.
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