Gerson de Mello Machado was a 19-year-old boy with schizophrenia, like his mother, who wanted to travel to Africa to tame lions. Moreau was brutally brutalized this Sunday after breaking into a lion’s cage, at the zoo in João Pessoa (Brazil), and being attacked by cats. It was almost a day after the morning when Machado with great agility climbed a six-metre-high wall, overcame the protective panels of the cage, embraced a palm tree and quietly descended through it into the interior, where the animal was called Leona He was lying in the sun, according to videos recorded by other visitors. In seconds, Leona He gets up and attacks him. known as CowboysMachado grew up in a public shelter, which he had to leave after he turned 18. He ended up in prison. Several professionals who treated him publicly condemned his disability this month. “A tragedy has been declared,” a prison official said. “Gerson should have been in psychotherapy, not among the children,” a guardianship counselor said.
On social media and in interviews with the Brazilian press, guard Veronica Oliveira recounted the details of the life of this shepherd, whom she had known for 10 years when the police found him wandering on the highway. His mother had lost custody of five children because she suffered from severe schizophrenia and her attackers also suffered from the same illness. While the other four brothers were adopted, Machado was unable to find a new family because he showed signs of suffering from schizophrenia and believed he was listening, Oliveira said. Since he had parents who could take care of him, he grew up in shelters.
The guardianship counselor said the diagnosis took a long time, despite the evidence. Actions and incidents in which Vaquerinho was involved as a child and teenager were attributed by psychiatrists to behavioral problems, not mental ones.
The professional noted that Machado had no idea of the risks. One time, he was called from the airport to be alerted that he was on a plane train, ready to travel as a police officer. “When I was young, I decided to go to Africa on safari to tame lions,” Oliveira says.
The Trusteeship Council denounced that until the majority of the city was met, the authorities left it powerless. Because your city, João Pessoa, lacks “a hostel where the work of independence and shelter can be carried out, where there can be follow-up. After reaching the eighteenth, she leaves her support for her safety. She leaves the institutional shelter and enters the prison system,” he tells G1. He committed minor crimes that landed him in prison, where he received treatment and was then released. I went in and out several times.
One of the prison staff who treated him, Evison Lira, denied that young Machado was acting like a five-year-old boy who needed more help than he could be given in prison. Machado even went to social services seeking psychological treatments that he was unable to pursue. “A tragedy has been declared. Vaquerinho, without the necessary treatment, without follow-up, is on the street. Here is the result,” laments Lira. globe.
A few days ago, this official, the head of the prison’s discipline department, published a video clip in which he denounced the helplessness of Machado, who committed his crimes in one day in a desperate attempt to be hospitalized again. The case has sparked debate about the care of mentally ill people in extremely vulnerable situations, such as Machado’s.
The helplessness of those who have remained close to Machado’s vital path since childhood and faced constant difficulties to treat him properly contrasts with the painstaking care Leona receives.
Becca Zoo, in João Pessoa, closed its doors immediately after the deadly attack following a cage invasion. Officials will explain in a video on the zoo’s Instagram profile that it complies with all required security measures. “Some things we cannot predict because they are out of the ordinary,” explained veterinarian Tiago Neri nervously.
Thanks to regular training, they were able to trap Leona without the need for tranquilizer darts. Neri said that the cat “was tense, in a state of shock that gradually diminished. He was afraid, like the entire team (at the zoo) and the residents.” Anyadio added that the animal “is being cared for by a team of biologists, technicians and veterinarians who will be followed for weeks, as dictated by protocols, whenever a rescue animal comes into contact with a human.”