A Savage Case of Child Abuse in Chita

Responding to the calls of a concerned neighbor, this week the Russian police entered one family’s apartment in Chita, Siberia, to discover an appalling case of alleged child abuse:  a five-year-old girl (estimated age) that had been completely de-socialized and raised with animals, representing a very rare case of feral child (which has already earned a crass media nickname of “Mowgli girl“).  Reports say she is without language skills, cannot walk upright, and exhibits animal behavior, including barking.  I don’t even need to mention the tasteless array of photos the British tabloids are coming up with.

It will undoubtedly be a great challenge for this poor, tragic girl to be able to grow up and live a normal life.  Then again, this is Russia, where a court has just ruled that women are banned from driving metro trains (just one of 460 jobs outlawed for females), so I guess “normal” may be a relative term.