Neglected Russian Girl Acts Like Pets

Neglected Girl, 5, Found Mimicking Cats, Dogs

A 5-year-old Russian girl has been has placed in state custody after being found alone in an apartment filled with cats and dogs and imitating the animals’ behavior. Police in the Transbaikal region of Siberia said Wednesday that the girl was kept shut up with the animals in a filthy apartment in the regional capital of Chita, where she lived with relatives, including her father and grandparents. Larisa Popova, head of the children’s affairs unit at the local police precinct, told state-run Rossiya television that the girl had developed feral characteristics.

Nina Yemelyanova, head of the reception department at a children’s home where the girl has been placed, said the child appears to mimic the behavior of animals. “Today, when I left the room, she jumped up to the door and started to bark,” Yemelyanova told Rossiya television. “And she does not know how to behave at the table — when she eats, the tries to put the spoon aside and lap from the dish.”

Markov said the father could be charged with neglect of a minor, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years. Chita is 2,900 miles east of Moscow.