Oxana Malaya
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Oksana Oleksandrivna Malaya (Template:Langx, born 4 November 1983), better known as Oxana Malaya, is a Ukrainian woman internationally known for her dog-imitating behavior. Malaya has been the subject of documentaries, interviews and tabloid headlines as a feral child "raised by dogs".<ref name=Grice>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Wild>Template:Cite news</ref>
Biography
Malaya was born in the village of Nova Blahovishchenka in Hornostaivka Raion, Kherson Oblast, of the Ukrainian SSR. According to doctors and medical records, she was a normal child at birth,<ref name="fakry soe">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but was later neglected by her drunk father at age three, and she lived surrounded by dogs.<ref name=Wild/><ref name="fak">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When Malaya was found by authorities, she was seven and a half years old, but she could not talk, lacked many basic skills, and physically behaved like a dog. She was running around on all fours, barking, slept on the floor, and she ate and took care of her hygiene like a dog.<ref name="fakry soe" /> Malaya was removed from her parents' custody by social services.<ref name="fak"/>
Malaya was eventually transferred to the foster home for mentally disabled children in Barabol (rural Ovidiopol Raion of Odesa Oblast). She underwent years of specialized therapy and education to address her behavioural, social and educational issues. Upon adulthood, Malaya was taught to subdue her dog-like behaviour; she learned to speak fluently and intelligibly<ref name="oxana"/> and works at a farm milking cows,<ref name="Grice"/><ref name="oxana" /> but remains somewhat intellectually impaired.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In a Channel 4 documentary, and in the Portuguese SIC channel documentary, her doctors stated that it is unlikely that she will ever be completely rehabilitated into "normal" society. In 2001, Russian TV channel NTV made a documentary about her life.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There have been multiple articles about her in the press.
In 2013, Malaya gave an interview on national Ukrainian TV, on the talk-show Hovoryt Ukraina, where she talked about herself and answered questions.<ref name="oxana">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the show, Malaya said that she wants to be treated like a normal human being, and is offended when others call her a "dog-girl".<ref name="oxana" /> She said that she wants her brothers to visit her more often and that her main dream in her life is to find her biological mother.<ref name="oxana" /> She also talked about her boyfriend, her life in the state foster home and her work with animals on the farm.<ref name="oxana" />
See also
References
External links
- Oxana talks about her life on the Ukrainian TV talk-show "Govorit Ukraina" (2013)
- Повторившая судьбу маугли 17-летняя воспитанница одесского интерната оксана малая совсем не обижается, когда ее называют девочкой-собакой - 2001 article in Fakty i kommentarii tabloid Template:In lang
- У героини публикации «фактов» оксаны малой, которая выросла в… Собачьей конуре, нашлись родной брат и маленькая племянница, тоже оксана - 2003 follow-up article in Fakty i kommentarii Template:In lang
- Daily Telegraph article
- Animal Planet Raised Wild documentary (geo locked)