The shocking story of an eight-year-old Thai boy who resorted to barking after being raised by dogs recently went viral. The boy, discovered in a squalid hut in Uttaradit province this month, exhibited heartbreaking behaviour indicative of severe neglect.
Child advocate Paveena Hongsakul described the harrowing scene: “He didn’t speak, he just barked. It was pitiful to see.” Nevertheless, this is not an isolated incident of feral upbringing. Oxana Malaya also suffered a similar fate, losing all sense of her “humanness” and living with dogs for years.
Abandoned at the mere age of three by her parents in Kherson, Ukraine, Oxana made a makeshift refuge in a dog kennel with Naida, her pet dog, to fend off the freezing temperatures. This kennel became her unlikely sanctuary for the following five years.
Integrating with Naida and other stray dogs, she was accepted as one of their own, sharing food and warmth in a display of cross-species companionship.
Mimicking the behaviours of her canine family, Oxana lost her linguistic capabilities, reverting to barking as her primary means of interaction. Exhibiting traits more befitting of her four-legged companions, she would pant, move on all fours, and even lick herself as a method of self-cleaning.
Her human mannerisms diminished completely as she began consuming her meals, including raw meat, directly from the ground like her adoptive pack.
She endured life in the impoverished village of Nova Blahovishchenka for five years until an unexpected outburst at a neighbour when she was eight drew authorities’ attention. After Oxana barked at a local, the situation escalated, prompting police intervention.
When the officers arrived, Oxana’s devoted dog companions fiercely tried to defend her, only relenting when they were lured away by food, allowing the child to be extracted from the kennel.
Rescued by social services in 1991, Oxana slowly adapted to society and found warmth in a foster home setting. She is currently in her early 40s and resides in a specialised care facility.
She previously recalled to 60 Minutes Australia that her mother’s sheer number of children meant there wasn’t a bed for everyone – and this is what drove her to the kennel. She recollected: “I would talk to them, they would bark and I would repeat it. That was our way of communication.”
Her astonishing case of feral living has intrigued scholars far and wide. Anna Chalaya, head of the institution caring for Oxana, observed: “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.”
Despite progress, experts believe her mental development mirrors that of a six-year-old, with child psychologist Lyn Fry commenting: “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 father and half-sister, yet the reunion did little to ease her deep-seated trauma.
Discussing her continued affinity for canine companionship during tough times, she revealed: “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.”