Living With Animals

We’ve all heard of stories of children with terrible upbringings, but have you heard of children being raised by animals? Numerous ‘feral’ kids have been isolated from human contact from a very young age and grew up wild, sometimes even being taken care of by animals.

Marina Chapman

Marina Chapman claims that when she was just five years old, she was kidnapped and then abandoned in the Colombian jungle for approximately five years. In this time she was ‘adopted’ by a group of capuchin monkeys, and taught her to live off the land and survive. Marina, who is now an author of a popular book, stated that the monkeys taught her how to catch birds and rabbits with her hands, and led her to clean drinking water. After the five years of being raised by the monkeys, she was found by hunters and was eventually re-introduced back into society.

Chile Dog Boy

Known as the ‘Dog Boy’ this Chilean boy, now 24 years of age, was abandoned by his 16 year old mother and left to fend for himself. At the age of 8 the boy took refuge with a pack of dogs, who took him in as one of their own. They taught him how to hunt and survive, even keeping him warm during the harsh winters. After two years living with animals, he was found by police in 2001 and captured. He was later taken to a child care centre and forced back into society.

 Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja

Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja, now 68 years of age, is a well-known feral child. When he was just seven he was sold to a goatherd by his father. The old goatherd soon became ill and died, leaving Marcos to fend for himself. For 12 years he lived with animal companions, wolves, goats, birds and even a snake. He states that “the animals guided me as to what to eat. Whatever they ate, I ate”. In 1965 he was found in the mountains, and taken by force back to civilization. He slowly was integrated back into society and has a many followers to this day.