SHE bounds along on all fours through long grass, panting with her tongue hanging out. When she reaches the tap she paws at the ground, drinks noisily with her jaws wide open and lets the water cascade over her head. Up to this point, you think the young woman could be acting — but the moment she shakes her head and neck free of droplets, exactly like a dog when it emerges from a swim, you get a creepy sense that this is something beyond imitation.
Then she barks. The furious sound she makes is not like a human being pretending to be a dog. It is a proper, chilling, canine-like burst of aggression and it is coming from the mouth of a young woman dressed in T-shirt and shorts.
This is year-old Oxana Malaya reverting to behaviour she learnt as a young child when she was brought up by a pack of dogs on a rundown farm near the village of Novaya Blagoveschenka in Ukraine. When she showed her boyfriend what she once was and what she could still do — the barking, the whining, the four-footed running — he took fright.
It was a party trick that went too far and the relationship ended. Miss Malaya is a feral child, one of only about known in the world. The story goes that, when she was three, her indifferent, alcoholic parents left her outside one night and she crawled into a hovel where they kept dogs.
No one came to look for her or even seemed to notice she was gone, so she stayed where there was warmth and food — raw meat and scraps — forgetting what it was to be human, losing what toddler's language she had and learning to survive as a member of the pack. A shameful five years later, a neighbour reported a child living with animals.
When she was found, at the age of eight in , Oxana could hardly speak and ran around on all fours barking. Though she must have seen humans at a distance, and seems occasionally to have entered the family house like a stray, they were no longer her species.
Judging from the complete lack of documentation about her physical and psychological state when found, the authorities were not keen to record her case — neglect on this scale was too shameful to acknowledge — even though it has been of huge and continuing interest to psychologists who believe feral children can help resolve the nature-nurture debate.
What is known about "the Dog Girl" has been passed down orally, through doctors and carers. She walked on all fours. She ate like a dog," is about as scientific as it gets. According to doctors and medical records, she was a normal child at birth.
But later she was neglected by her alcoholic parents at an early age, and she lived surrounded by dogs. When Oxana was found by authorities , she was seven and a half years old, but she could not talk, lacked many basic skills, and physically behaved like a dog. She was running around on all fours, barking; slept on the floor; and she ate and took care of her hygiene like a dog. Malaya was eventually transferred to the foster home for mentally-disabled children in Barabol rural Ovidiopol Raion of Odessa Oblast.
She underwent years of specialized therapy and education to address her behavioural, social and educational issues. Upon adulthood, Oxana has been taught to subdue her dog-like behaviour, she learned to speak fluently and intelligently, she works at the farm milking cows, but remains somewhat intellectually impaired.
In a British Channel 4 documentary, and in the Portuguese SIC channel documentary, her doctors stated that it is unlikely that she will ever be completely rehabilitated into "normal" society. There have been multiple articles about her in the press. In , Oxana gave an interview on national Ukrainian TV, on the talk-show Govorit Ukraina , where she talked about herself and answered questions.
Lyn Fry, child psychologist, says that although Malaya shows a surprising amount of personality, the way she speaks is peculiar:. Her language is odd. She speaks flatly as though it's an order.
There is no cadence or rhythm or music to her speech, no inflection or tone. But she has a sense of humour. She likes to be the centre of attention, to make people laugh. Showing off is quite a surprising skill when you consider her background. Malaya was eventually reunited with her estranged father during the filming of a documentary.
The meeting was uncomfortable and very formal. They stared at each other for a considerable amount of time before speaking. Most experts agree that children generally have until five to learn to speak before the brain loses the capacity to develop language. While Malaya speaks without the regular cadence and tonal shifts displayed by most people, she does have a solid grasp of the language despite having been abandoned around three.
It is believed that she must have picked up on some language before she began living with the dogs, so she was able to re-learn some of what she forgot. She currently lives in an adult care facility in the Ukraine.
Residents of the facility help run a farm and Malaya helps tend to the animals. Experts doubt she will ever be able to live independently. Don't Call Her "Dog Girl". Lyn Fry, child psychologist, says that although Malaya shows a surprising amount of personality, the way she speaks is peculiar: Her language is odd.
Photo: user uploaded image. Animals Survival Natural World.
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