A white dog found wandering near Brazil’s presidential palace was given the official role of the President’s mascot. His rapid rise to Instagram stardom soon came to an end, but a happy one.
Based on his Instagram account, the white Maremma sheepdog called Augusto Bolsonaro, was living the dream.
How?
After a guard spotted the friendly dog wandering around the presidential palace in Brazil in June, the guard took him in. The little canine quickly integrated himself with everyone around him, endearing others wherever he went. This new addition to the palace didn’t go unnoticed by the President either. The pup was soon introduced to the public as the presidential family’s official mascot.
A new instagram account for Augusto was soon created, with the first post of the President’s mascot captioning “My new home”. In only a few days, Augusto’s instagram account reached thousands of followers.
But the Bolsonaros knew that his stint as the official mascot would only be a short one. In a live video story on Augusto’s account, the first lady said that she had a feeling that Augusto wasn’t a street dog. Becoming instagram famous only decreased Augusto’s tenure as the presidential mascot.
But Who Is Augusto, Actually?
The actual owner of the white sheepdog was Nagib Lima Zeidan. His year wasn’t going too well, having first lost his employment at a gas station, then his dog, whose name is actually Zeus.
When Nagib heard about the adventures that Zeus had undertaken during their brief separation, he was both thrilled and stunned. After noticing ‘Augusto Bolsonaro’ looked eerily similar to his lost pup, Nagib reached out to the presidential family. He even sent some photos of Zeus in his prior, more normal life
Nagib was invited to the palace to pick up Zeus. The return was accompanied by a small ceremony. The President was also present at both events.
It is unknown how Zeus feels about giving up his fancy residence and prestigious title. But one thing we do know is that he loves Nagib a lot. Zeus greeted his old owner with a big kiss as Nagib walked into the palace.
But it seems like the Bolsonaros aren’t willing to give him up for good just yet. A shared custody arrangement was proposed between the families. So while Zeus isn’t a full-time presidential mascot anymore, he certainly still has a role as a part-time presidential mascot.
