An eight-year-old boy, starved of human interaction, was found neglected in Thailand in recent days, and the disturbing case draws parallels with a feral girl in Ukraine who was also raised by dogs
The disturbing tale of an eight-year-old boy who only communicated by barking after he was found being raised by dogs has shocked the world after news broke last week. The neglected youngster was discovered in a filthy hut in the Thai province of Uttaradit last week and children’s activist Paveena Hongsakul said: “He didn’t speak, he just barked. It was pitiful to see.”
But as shocking as the discovery was, it is not the first time a child grew up living among a pack of wild dogs. Oxana Malaya suffered a similar fate and was the same age when she was discovered. Below we look back at her bizarre upbringing that has striking parallels with the recent case in Thailand.
Oxana was just three years old when her abusive and alcoholic mum and dad abandoned her in Kherson, Ukraine. Trying to escape the bitter cold after being left outside, she sought shelter in a kennel with her pet dog, Naida. This would be her home until she was found five years later. Soon, Naida, along with other strays in the area, treated the girl as an equal, and would share their food and keep her warm.
It wasn’t long before the little girl copied the mongrels after losing the ability to speak. Rather than act like a normal child, she barked to communicate and panted and travelled on all fours.
Oxana licked herself clean just like how the dogs did and she also ate her meals, often including raw meat, off the floor after losing any human skills she once possessed.
She lived like this in the poor village of Nova Blahovishchenka for five years but authorities got involved after Oxana barked at a neighbour when she was eight.
After police arrived, her loyal canine friends aggressively tried to protect her, until the barking girl was removed from the kennel after the dogs were distracted by food.
Oxana was taken by social services in 1991 before eventually adjusting to human life after being welcomed to a foster home. She is now in her early 40s and lives in a special care institution.
Rather than try and hide her past, she has been open about it and once told 60 Minutes Australia how her mother had too many children and therefore there weren’t enough beds for everyone.
This eventually led her to the kennel. She remembered: “I would talk to them, they would bark and I would repeat it. That was our way of communication.”
Her high profile feral case led to experts studying her. Director of the special care institution where Oxana is based, Anna Chalaya, said: “She was more like a little dog than a human child.
“She used to show her tongue when she saw water and she used to eat with her tongue and not her hands.”
Oxana is also said to have the mental capacity of a six-year-old and child psychologist Lyn Fry once said: “I don’t think she’s ever going to be able to read or do anything else that is going to be useful.
“If you haven’t got language by about five, you’re probably not going to get language at all.” In 2006, Oxana reunited with her dad and half-sister, but the awkward meeting did not help with her ongoing trauma.
And speaking about how she still seeks the comfort of dogs while struggling, she added: “When I feel lonely, I find myself doing anything, I crawl on all four. This is how lonely I feel. Because I have nobody, I spend my time with dogs, I go for walks and do anything I want to.”