'Feral' child barks and hisses after being raised as a pet

A "feral" five-year-old girl who hisses and barks after being forced by her family to live as one of their many pets has been rescued from a home in far eastern Russia.

According to police, the child, who has only been identified as "Natasha", was so neglected that she had barely developed a human vocabulary, communicating instead through animal noises.

Although she lived with her father, grandparents and other relatives, Natasha was essentially treated like one of a large number of dogs and cats that shared a small flat in the isolated city of Chita.

Like the other pets, she lapped at her food from a bowl on the floor and had never learned how to use cutlery.

Welfare officers, who were led to the flat by concerned neighbours, have placed Natasha in an orphanage. Although malnourished and small for her age, she appeared to be relatively healthy considering her ordeal, a police spokesman said.

He said the police were looking for the girl's parents, who are believed to be divorced.