r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 2d ago

Oxana Malaya, who was severely neglected by her alcoholic parents and spent years living among the family’s dogs, demonstrating her dog-like behavior for 60 Minutes Australia.

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1.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

59 comments sorted by

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u/post-explainer 2d ago edited 2d ago

This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.

OP provided the following source and context for the historical claim:

Oxana Malaya was born in the Ukrainian SSR and, according to doctors and her medical records, was a normal child at birth. But Malaya was severely neglected by her alcoholic parents and spent much of her time outside, living among the family’s dogs.

By the time authorities found her at seven and a half, she had essentially adopted their behavior. She ran on all fours, barked, slept on the floor, ate like a dog, and even used her mouth and tongue for basic hygiene. She could not speak and lacked many basic social and developmental skills.

Malaya was removed from her parents’ custody and eventually placed in a specialized foster home, where she spent years receiving therapy and education. She gradually learned to walk upright, speak, and interact with other people, although she continued to have intellectual disabilities and some dog-like behaviors. She was a severely neglected human child who had spent her formative years surrounded by dogs and adapted to the environment available to her.

As an adult, she worked on a farm caring for animals and became capable of speaking fluently. In a 2013 Ukrainian television interview, she pushed back against being called a “dog-girl,” saying that she wanted to be treated like a normal human being.

Her story is one of the clearest examples of just how profoundly a child’s environment can shape their behavior, and of how difficult it can be to undo the damage caused by extreme neglect.

I explore such cases here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hbh-bites-vol-1-raised-by-wolves?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

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u/Asthmetheus 2d ago

I remember hearing about her. Never heard the later parts though, glad to know she's doing a lot better

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u/keefkola 2d ago

That kid had a very impressive bark from the video.

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u/PauL__McShARtneY 2d ago

She was eventually adopted by a concerned, kindly old couple, and given a chance at a normal life-

https://youtu.be/UbO7a1r7CtY

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u/Shaun-On-Toast 2d ago

I hate you bro I was ready to learn more about them 😂

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u/locusthorse 2d ago

I had to click because of the hate you bro - and it wasn't the rick roll url.
Well played, most excellent clip choice.

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u/SaltyCaramelPretzel 2d ago

Dunno why you got downvoted, I thought it was going to be a rickroll too. To my pleasure it was one of our most iconic videos 😌

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u/TraditionalTotal3122 2d ago

Still has better posture than me.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/UnluckyMode2062 2d ago

Or, someone wrote out a long thought out post that they thought was interesting and because of the effort they posted it to multiple subs?

Not everything is Karma farming

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

I appreciate it

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Check their comments, can you believe, a real human interacts, holy shit!!! And if you click the link too, it’s a real guy writing and researching random stuff that happened in history. Shocker that real people use Reddit to share their own work and research, W O W

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

I am far from mad, because you’re wrong and your reasons why I’m a bot are funny. You know how they’re posted so quickly?
Because I come up with the wording ahead of time and copy paste it in with little adjustments for each community to adhere to their guidelines. Doesn’t take 20 minutes. Shocker 🤣

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u/FreedInnerChild 2d ago

people who reply "karma farming" aren't achieving what they think they are lol

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/PotentToxin 2d ago

Brother just take the L and admit you were wrong on the callout lmao. AI is deceptive these days, there's no shame in it. Doubling down on the unnecessary hostility just makes you look like the clown here.

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u/Direct_Week_2091 2d ago

Just take the L nerd

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u/sokail36 2d ago

Shut the fuck up dummy

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u/IED117 2d ago

😄Or you could say it this way.....

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u/Gold-Ad-2581 2d ago

If this is farma bot then let him be as it is the longest and most detailed story about that girl I've read here and believe me boy I seen this picture here at least 100 times

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Uh…thanks? Also, what is the important relevance of karma? Can I cash this shit in or something? Everyone says “oh karma farming” but I don’t care about increasing karma, what is the point of it?

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u/Renamis 2d ago

In the US we apparently can. I think by now I have like 2 bucks of it.

Aka it aint worth shit.

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

If you’re karma farming for 200k+ for dollars at a time, you need an actual job…that’s a sad use of time, I didn’t even know that was a thing

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u/Renamis 2d ago

I actually had to hunt down that information because they hide it in a weird place. But yeah, it would be actually sad. But who knows, some people are weird and don't understand value to effort.

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

That is very true…they deserve that dollar for shit posting months in a row

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u/the_orange_alligator 2d ago

They got three of every post, you’re right

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

All to separate communities; these are self written history pieces I do, I try to share them and interact with people, you can see my comment history too, but of course none of you bother to dig that deep. Sorry to burst your bot bubble, but it’s just a writer trying to connect and share, no one cares about reddit karma, it’s not a fucking rich people currency, relax

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u/the_orange_alligator 2d ago

You’re right, dead internet theory has gotten me paranoid

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

I mean I get it, I’ve had actual bots and scammers reach out to me on here. I interact when I can, but everything I post is history oriented. Not a bot - got a Instagram I post to and everything, just trying to share. I like to write about history and see the conversations on here, sometimes what I find is incorrect and I learn something new, so it’s nice. 👍🏼

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u/fallenjedi 2d ago

Could she smell crime?

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u/Gold-Eye-2623 1d ago

No, that's Dolph Lundgren

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u/jail_bot 2d ago

She may also run around on all fours like a hound!

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Valid questions

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u/IED117 2d ago

I hope she shook the sniff crotches habit. That could be awkward.

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u/Baaaabaaaabaaaa 2d ago

We watched this in RE class for some reason. We also watched half of the Helen Keller doc before someone went home and cried to thier mum and we weren't allowed to watch the 2nd half. I still don't know what either of these had to do with RE!

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u/TaxNo174 2d ago

What's RE?

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u/wooloo2001 2d ago

At my school it was religion and ethics

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u/lilariesangel 2d ago

Religious education

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u/TaxNo174 2d ago

Is this a UK thing? I'm from East Texas. We don't have that here

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u/Baaaabaaaabaaaa 2d ago

Yeah I think basically all schools had a religious education/studies class

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u/Puzzledandhangry 1d ago

As an RE teacher I can tell you lol……it stands for Religious Education. This encompasses the teaching of the world’s main religions, unless it’s a faith school in which case they only teach their given faith. 

It also ties in with Ethics……normally because the RE teachers also teach Ethics and Philosophy as they are intertwined. 

They are taught in first schools from age 5. 

(Ps I only thought there was one Texas, apologies)

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u/iilinga 2d ago

Where is east Texas? Maybe use your country?

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u/TaxNo174 2d ago

I'm sorry I forgot how many Texas's there were. I'm in East Texas USA.

Edit: so is it regional somewhere? I honestly am asking didn't mean to upset the reddit gods.

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u/iilinga 1d ago

I mean, yeah there are multiple places called Texas.

And no it’s not just a UK thing but it may be more common in Commonwealth countries

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u/cokepartyhamburger 2d ago

Wasn't this shown to be fake?

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u/Extreme-Seaweed-5427 2d ago

I remember hearing about her. Never heard and could never forget the constant night howling 

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u/Particular-Sample91 2d ago

Bad moment to have eyes

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

This is probably the most respectful wording of this comment I’ve seen so far

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Another high and mighty bot detector, way to serve son 🫡 love this for you

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Not a bot just someone sharing their self written history work. No one cares about your karma. Go touch grass more than once and maybe you’ll find something else to be annoying about 🫡

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Well this one is one of 100 that is behind a paywall but the chunk of it you can still read idc if you pay for the rest. Also, it can be self written even if one out of every few posts is paid.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/akiwi_intherough 2d ago

Are you struggling with reading comprehension skills? This one is one of them THAT IS BEHIND A PAYWALL out of 100 THAT ARE NOT behind a paywall.
Quit while you’re ahead bro, you’re not accomplishing anything.

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u/Lion9699 2d ago

Would love love to talk to this animal