Police officials in northern India found a young girl living alongside a pack of monkeys.
The discovery was made in Uttar Pradesh in the Kartarniagath Wildlife Sanctuary, near the Nepal border. The girl has been nicknamed the “Mowgli” girl, as a reference to the Jungle Book’s main character who was raised by wolves.
Suresh Yadav, a sub-inspector from the Uttar Pradesh Police, was on routine duty around the Bahraich region, when he spotted the girl comfortably sitting among the monkeys.
‘Mowgli’ girl screeched like a monkey when police tried to rescue her
According to the report, the girl and the monkeys both shouted when the cops tried to save her.
“She was terrified of us, she could not speak or hear properly. She was surrounded by three monkeys,” said Inspector Ram Avtar to Cover Asia Press.
The inspector added that the girl had wounds on her body, specifically one or her elbow and leg. When they discovered her, the girl was wearing clothes that weren’t so dirty.
The police officers believe that her family abandoned the girl and she was “adopted” by the monkeys. The girl did not speak any language, and they were not able to communicate properly with her.
The inspector added that she looked feeble and starved when they found her. The police officers gave her some food and water, and they believe that if they hadn’t rescued her, she could have been eaten by other animals in the sanctuary.
‘Mowgli’ girl is being taught to speak and walk
The girl was taken to a district hospital ever since the rescue, over two months ago. The hospital has treated her wounds and workers are currently trying to teach her how to communicate and how to walk on two legs.
“When she was admitted here, she was scared of us and she was always cowling like animals, like monkeys,” said chief medical officer Dr. Dinesh Singh, according to Cover Assia Press. “She was suffering from malnutrition. She might have eaten what animals did. She gets angry sometimes and we have to calm her down.”
The Mirror UK posted a video of the “Mowgli” girl, where she’s seen screeching like a monkey in a hospital bed.
Doctors from the hospital where she’s currently living said that she acts violently sometimes and that she refuses to eat from a plate and eats directly off her bedsheets instead. When the “Mowgli” girl is better and learns to communicate, she will be sent to the government’s child protection office.
Dr. Arun Lal, the district’s chief medical officer, visited the girl on Thursday. The doctor said that the girl is now able to stand on her legs and walk, and although she was aggressive most of the time, she recently started accepting human contact more and even held hands with the nurses or doctors sometimes.
Lal added that she is no longer suffering from malnutrition and she is in a much better physical shape. For Lal, the fact that she’s slowly responding to humans shows that she has some memory of them. She’s believed to be between 8 and ten years old, and the hospital will soon conduct radiological tests to try to determine her age.
The doctors have named the girl Durga, after the Hindu warrior goddess of destruction.
Source: New York Post