An 8-year-old girl was found living with
monkeys in a remote nature reserve in Bahraich, northern India. The girl
has now been dubbed Mowgli 2.0 because of the similarity of her story
with the story of the boy in The Jungle Book who was brought up by
wolves.
The girl was discovered by a group of
woodcutters working in the area who then alerted government officials
and she was rescued from the region near the Nepal border. The girl did
not seem happy about being uprooted from the only home she knows, she
then screeched like a monkey, which it was soon discovered is the only way
she knows how to communicate.
It was also discovered that the girl could
not walk like a human and instead moved on all fours, the way animals
do and she runs away at the sight of humans. Authorities say she seemed
comfortable among the apes at Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, close to
the border with Nepal.
It has not been discovered who she is, where she came from and how long she has been in the wild but investigations are ongoing already. Sub-inspector Suresh Yadav was the one who rescued the girl while he was on patrol two months ago.
It has not been discovered who she is, where she came from and how long she has been in the wild but investigations are ongoing already. Sub-inspector Suresh Yadav was the one who rescued the girl while he was on patrol two months ago.
When
the girl was found, she was "naked and was very comfortable in the
company of monkeys. When the woodcutters tried to rescue the girl, they
were chased away by the monkeys," Police officer Dinesh Tripathi said.
Later, another police officer came to try to rescue her but the monkeys fought for her.
"When he called the girl, the monkeys attacked him but he was able to rescue the girl. He sped away with her in his police car while the monkeys gave chase," Tripathi said.Inspector Ram Avtar Singh, from Motipur station, in Bahraich, said:
"She was terrified of us, she could not speak or hear us properly. She was surrounded by three monkeys.
She had wounds on her body specifically on her elbow and one on her leg. She was wearing clothes but not very dirty, it looks like she was abandoned by her family.
She looked weak and was very hungry. We gave her some food to eat. She looked miserable. If we hadn't rescued her she could have been eaten by other animals."
Doctors
at the government-run hospital she was taken to say she is still prone
to bouts of anger and violence while she does not appear to understand
any language.
She is also still frightened of humans and though she has
been taught to walk upright, she still prefers to walk on all fours.
However, there has been an improvement from the time when she first came
in.
At the initial stage, she behaved like an animal, even to the
extent of eating her food off the floor. Now she is able to eat with her
hands.
"She is still not able to speak, but understands whatever you tell her and even smiles," said D.K. Singh, chief medical superintendent of the hospital.
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