The Itar-Tass news agency reports on discovery of a “wild child” (now 20 years old) identified in Siberia. The Sept. 2013 article is titled: “Hermit found in Altai Krai, Siberia: 20-year-old lived all his life in forest.” The hut image below is presumably one of the dwellings mentioned in the article. The text of the article is printed below.
Citizens of a resort town Belokurikha found a young man living in the forest who apparently lived there from his birth and never had contact with the outside world, said the city’s Prosecutor Roman Fomin
The prosecution have looked into the citizens’ report. It was determined that the young man, whose name has not been made public, “was born in 1993 without obstetric care near Kaytanak village located in Ust-Koksinsk region of Altai Republic. He was not educated, he was no social skills or any idea of the world outside of the forest,” the prosecutor explained.
Young man’s parents are also hermits. Since 1997 they have moved into a mud hut located in the forest approximately three kilometers from Ulyanovsk village of Altai Krai. In spring of 2013 they have moved, leaving their son fend for himself.
Fomin emphasized that the young hermit “has no official papers proving his birth; this prevents him from receiving identification documents in order to benefiting from rights and support guaranteed by the government.”
The prosecution has contacted the court in order to establish his birth; social protection services were contacted as well.