Children Raised By Dogs – Feral Children

Real Stories About Children Raised By Dogs l Bizarre Buffet Podcast

Feral Children raised by dogs, you read correctly! Depicted by Jodie Foster in the film ” Nell “, on this episode of Bizarre Buffet we sit down to discuss real life accounts of children raised in the wild…by the wild!

A feral child (also called wild child) is a young individual who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and so has had little or no experience of human care, behavior, or human language. There are several confirmed cases and other speculative ones. Feral children may have experienced severe abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. They are sometimes the subjects of folklore and legends, typically portrayed as having been raised by animals.

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” Raised By Dogs: Feral Children” Episode Credits

Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein

Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello

Original Episode Concept & Story By Jen Wilson

Episode Production By Marc Bluestein

” Raised By Dogs: Feral Children ” Show Notes

Question

What is your knowledge of nature vs. nurture ?

Definition

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest philosophical issues within psychology. So what exactly is it all about?

Nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are—from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics.
Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture.

What Exactly is the Debate !?

Do genetic or environmental factors have a greater influence on your behavior? Do inherited traits or life experiences play a greater role in shaping your personality?

Examples of Nature

A few examples of biologically determined characteristics (nature) include certain genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color.

Examples of Nurture

Other things like life expectancy and height have a strong biological component, but they are also influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle.

BUUUUUUUUUT This isn’t what i’m boring you with tonight. What we are talking about and I think I’ve dropped little nuggets via text the last week and a half but……

Drum roll please……

FERAL CHILDREN

A feral child is a young individual who has lived in isolation from human contact from a very young age. They have had little to no experience of human care, behavior, or human language. (HAYYYYY NELL)

Feral children may have experienced severe abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away.

Prior to the 1600s, feral children were limited to legends and myths. Mowgli the Jungle Book. Rome being found by Romulus and Remus who were raised by wolves

See how everything traces back to religion and legends ? CALL BACK TO HOLY ANOREXIA.

There are a handful of documented cases of feral children which we’re going to touch on, tracing back to the early 1800s, BUT, because this is BIZARRE BUFFET, I want to touch on the more RECENT ONES !

Oxana Malaya better known as “The Dog Girl”

Oxana was born in 1983 in Ukranian SSR during the cold war. Remember that when we continue down this road.
She was born in a very small village and according to old medical records, she was a healthy, normal child.
Later, she was neglected by her alcoholic father at the age of 3, and she lived surrounded by dogs.
When she was finally discovered at the age of 7, thanks to a call from a neighbor, she could not talk, lacked many basic skills, and physically behaved like a dog.
She was running around on all fours, barking, sleeping on the floor, and ate and took care of her hygiene like a dog.
She was removed from her parents’ custody thanks to social services, and transferred to a foster home for mentally disabled children.
She underwent years of specialized therapy and education to address her behavioral and social issues.
She now works at a farm, milking cows, still somewhat intellectually impared.
There is video footage from 2013 out there which you can easily find on youtube, of her as a young adult on all fours, barking and acting like a dog. She does speak, and states that she is still triggered to dog like behavior when she finds herself feeling lonely.
She wishes to just be treated like a normal human being and is highly offended when referred to as “the dog girl”.
Her wish is for her brothers to visit her more and find her biological mother, but sadly, doctors have stated she will never be completely rehabilitated into a “normal” society.

Ivan Mishukov

Ivan was born in 1992 in Russia.

When he was 4, he left his home to escape his mother and her alcoholic boyfriend.
Between the ages of 4 and 6, he lived with dogs, and gained their trust by providing them with food, and in return, the dogs protected him.
He was eventually made pack leader by the dogs.
Ivan was captured by the Moscow Police in 1998. He was six years old.
The Police separated Ivan from the pack by leaving bait for the pack in the back of a restaurant kitchen.
Before this, Ivan had escaped the police 3 times being protected by the pack.
Unlike Oxana, Ivan only lived amongst the dogs for 2 years and was easily able to relearn the Russian language which he can speak fluently and intelligently.
He went to military school and served in the Russian Army.
He has successfully returned into society currently in his 30s and working as an operator at a wire producing plant.
What breaks my heart, however about this story is that:

After Ivan was rescued, his beloved dogs sensed his location and waited in vain for him at the institution’s gate.

Later they were killed on the orders of cruel officials.

Soon afterwards, Ivan was raised by caring foster mother Tatiana Babanina. Tatiana’s loving care ensured Ivan recovered. He then gained entry to the prestigious Kronshtadt naval cadet school. There, he had the opportunity to parade in front of Vladimir Putin.

Viktor Kozlovstev

Viktor spent 4 years in a small town in Russia living with a rottweiler sleeping on the same rug and sharing the same food bowl.
When he was found at the age of seven, he could hardly talk and instead barked, walked on all fours, and ate like a dog from a bowl.
His mother – an alcoholic – was deemed ‘incapable’ of raising him.
According to a Russian report, ‘only the dog cared for him.’
Later with the help of a loving foster mother Lilit Gorelova, he began studying to become a tailor.

‘He likes sewing, he is happy with a needle in his hand,’ Lilit said. ‘But he also has an idea to become a gardener.’
His experience as a child has left a deep impact and slowed his cognitive development.
‘Of course we are trying to teach him all the skills of an adult person and he’s making big progress,’ Lilit said proudly. ‘For example, this year he started commuting in public transport on his own’, she added.
‘Sometimes we secretly follow him in a car and see if he behaves well,’ Lilit continued.
When asked whether he remembers his childhood, Viktor shakes his head and hides his head in his shoulders.

Soviet RUssia and the Downfall

Bread lines were common throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Soviet citizens often did not have access to basic needs, such as clothing or shoes.

The divide between the extreme wealth of the Politburo and the poverty of Soviet citizens created a backlash from younger people who refused to adopt Communist Party ideology as their parents had.

The USSR also faced foreign attacks on the Soviet economy. In the 1980s, the United States under President Ronald Reagan isolated the Soviet economy from the rest of the world and helped drive oil prices to their lowest levels in decades. When the Soviet Union’s oil and gas revenue dropped dramatically, the USSR began to lose its hold on Eastern Europe.

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