In Rio de Janeiro, two rescue dogs have turned local mascots and budding online influencers after joining their rescuers’ ranks, wooing their growing audience, one bark at a time.

Corporal Oliveira, a dog with short brown hair thought to be around four years old, turned up one morning in 2019 at a police station on Rio’s Governador Island, injured and weak.

“I gave him food, water. It took a while for him to get used to me,” said Cpl. Cristiano Oliveira, the officer who took the dog under his wing and later gave him his name. But within a few days, Corporal Oliveira – the furry animal – started following his new master around the precinct. Oliveira has since joined another precinct, but the dog never left.

Corporal Oliveira has his own Instagram profile with more than 45,000 fervent followers, always hungry for more photos and videos of their mascot in his trademark police uniform, standing on top of police armoured vehicles, motorcycles or sticking his little head out of a regular patrol car’s window. He even has a miniature toy firearm attached to his uniform.