What happens when raising a child is left to nature versus nurture, you might ask, and I’m glad you did because the story of three-year-old Oxana Malaya, who was raised by dogs, sheds [pun intended!] light on the debate.
It was a cold night in the eighties
Born November 4, 1983, three-year-old Oxana Malaya was a product of the crowded, poverty-stricken home of alcoholics in Nova Blagovishchenka, Ukraine when she was inadvertently forgotten outside one bitterly cold night in the 1980s.
Forced to seek shelter outside the confines of her home, the young girl crawled inside the family doghouse—finding a warm refuge with her four-footed furry companion, Naida. Oxana apparently enjoyed her sleepover with Naida so much that she decided to stay… for the next five years!
During her five years of self-imposed exile, Oxana joined up with a local dog pack and adopted several canine-like behaviors, including walking on all fours, eating food without her hands, and sleeping on the ground. From the ages of three to almost eight, the young girl lived off raw meat and scavenged scraps of food. Over time, Oxana lost her ability to communicate using human language, learning instead to bark and growl her needs.
Enter the dog catcher
For half a decade Oxana lived with her adopted family until one day fate intervened in the form of a nosy neighbor who became alarmed when she observed the girl wandering around the neighborhood acting like a dog and barking.
The neighbor notified authorities and when Oxana was finally discovered, her new family became fiercely protective of any moves made by law enforcement to remove Oxana from the care of the pack. Law enforcement was left to tempt the dog pack away from their adopted charge with food.
After her rescue, Oxana required years of rehabilitation and therapy to recondition her behaviors to ones more socially acceptable. At seven and a half years old, Oxana was sleeping on the floor and showing as much concern for her personal hygiene as, well, a dog when she was “rescued.”
Removed from her parents’ custody, Oxana was taken in by social services and later transferred to a foster home for mentally disabled children. There, she underwent years of advanced treatment and specialized therapy re-learning how to be “human.”
Reassembled
Now in her forties, Oxana has learned to speak fluently and curb some of her more glaring dog-like behaviors but remains intellectually impaired. Medical records from Oxana’s early life indicate she was a normal infant with no known or observable developmental delays prior to her living life as a dog.
In 2001, Oxana told Russian reporters she feared that she may never truly be normal or feel like she “fits” in and is offended when she is called “dog girl.” Oxana also expressed a desire to reunite with her mother and see her siblings more often.
Oxana also works with animals on a farm. She says she sometimes likes to go off by herself and walk on all fours—she finds it comforting in a world that still feels slightly alien.
The story of Oxana is interesting on many levels but is widely known for reigniting the nature versus nurture debate. Now that you know all about Oxana Malaya and her life living as part of a dog pack, what do you think—are environmental factors the only predictors of development, or do childhood experiences and social interactions determine who we become?
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