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Dominique

Oxana Malaya, the Ukrainian Dog Girl

Lived with dogs

Not really either a feral child or a confined child, but rather a neglected one, Oxana Malaya spent much of her childhood between the ages of 3 and 8 living in a kennel in the back garden of the family home in Novaya Blagoveschenka, Ukraine, although she did spend some time in the house with her alcholic and neglectful parents.

Oxana Malaya, the Dog Girl

Her childhood spent in the company of dogs meant that Oxana exhibited many of the characteristics of feral children. Her actions and sounds mimicked those of her carers: she would run about on all fours and bark. When first found in 1991 she could hardly speak.

What has become of Oxana Malaya?

In 2006 at the age of 23, Oxana Malaya still resides at a home for the mentally handicapped, the Baraboy Clinic in Odessa, where she helps look after the cows in the Clinic's farm.

See Oxana Malaya's story

Oxana Malaya has been featured in a number of television programmes, including Wild Child: The Story of Feral Children, made by Optomen Television for the Discovery Channel and also shown on Channel 4 (UK), and the first programme in the Confrontation series from NTV (Russia).