...Kati Wall Greenbaum English 1102 24 September 2014 Feeling Feral Upon reading “St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves” by Karen Russell one might take the story at face value and say that this is simply a fantastic story of young werewolves, but the observant reader might find themselves begging the question “Are these young girls, or are they young wolves?”. The answer lies in a reader’s perception. In the story we meet a group of sisters whose parents are werewolves. The girls behave as wild animals initially, like biting, digging, growling, barking, scratching, flea bitten wolves! They come to live with nuns and begin the process of learning to behave like socially acceptable young women. To this reader it seems that the question is not “girls or wolves”, but “What is it that Karen Russell wants a reader to feel when they are immersed in this story?” I am of the opinion that the wolves are metaphoric, and that there is a deeper message being conveyed. When reading this story we are supposed to feel the sensation of being dropped into a strange culture: overwhelming otherness, fear, desperation, and isolation. Think back to what your life was like as a child. Imagine being taken from your family, friends, home, and everything you have ever known and sent to another country with an entirely different culture, (Think India, Russia, China, etc…) I think you would feel similarly to Claudette and her sisters. Near the beginning of the story, in stage 2, Claudette’s...
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...Feral children are individuals who have grown up with little to no human contact. Most do not have an ability to interact with humans. When they are discovered, they are unable to react to contact. They live without human care, social contact, love, and human language. They are isolated from the human world - often as an effect of neglect, or from growing up alongside wild animals. One would believe that all humans, no matter what age, have the ability to conform to a society regardless of their past circumstances. Feral children, on the other hand, are nearly, if not completely incapable of conforming to a society due to the fact that they have transformed into beings that are, for the most part, incapable of interacting with others in a ‘normal’ society. The majority of these children will never have the ability to learn the human language. Ivan Mishukov is a citizen in Russia who was raised by dogs only from ages four to six. In another case, Natasha Mikhailova grew up with the animals in her house. She was treated like one of the many dogs and cats that her family cared for in their small home in Chita, Siberia. A very recent case takes place in Florida where Dani Lierow was rescued and now lives with her adoptive parents in Fort Myers Beach. Science suggests that each of these wild children will forever be unable to speak a human language. Treatment is available to them, but there is only so much that can be done. In 1996, four-year-old Ivan Mishukov left his home in...
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...Cats have been present in Australia since European settlement and by the mid-19th century they were well established in the wild. Intentional releases to help control rabbit outbreaks increased their range (Abbott, 2008). Cats are classified into three categories – domestic, stray and feral, with the latter being the target of control programs (Department of Environment, 2015). The national Threat abatement plan for predation by feral cats identifies feral cats as “serious vertebrate pests” which inflict “severe to catastrophic effects on native fauna” where they have been known to prey on 400 vertebrate species, 28 of which are on the IUCN Red List (Department of Environment, 2015, p. 5; Doherty, Davis, van Etten, Algar, Collier, Dickman,...
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...The Importance of Socialization One of the most common methods used to illustrate the importance of socialization is to draw upon the few unfortunate cases of children who were, through neglect, misfortune, or wilful abuse, not socialized by adults while they were growing up. Such children are called "feral" or wild. Some feral children have been confined by people (usually their own parents); in some cases this child abandonment was due to the parents' rejection of a child's severe intellectual or physical impairment. Feral children may have experienced severe child abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. Others are alleged to have been brought up by animals; some are said to have lived in the wild on their own. When completely brought up by non-human animals, the feral child exhibits behaviors (within physical limits) almost entirely like those of the particular care-animal, such as its fear of or indifference to humans. Feral children lack the basic social skills which are normally learned in the process of socialization. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright and display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language. The impaired ability to learn language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and...
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...TUCSON, Ariz. – Plagued with a feral-cat problem for years, Tucson and its surrounding areas should see the population decrease once the county builds its new shelter and the city begins implementing its new spay and neuter program. The new county shelter will be built as a result of Proposition 415, which passed just this past November and approves $22 million in bonds to be sold in order to build a brand new building that will replace the current shelter. The current shelter, located at 4000 N. Silverbell Road, has been around since 1968 and since then the county’s population has grown by nearly 700,000 people. The pet population grew in pace with the county’s, which led to the large feral-cat population and left the outdated shelter overcrowded...
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...Oxana, Victor, Genie, and Edik are all considered feral children because of early childhood traumatic experiences. The first child that was considered feral was Victor who lived in Paris, France in the early 1800’s. Victor lived out in the woods by himself and was always on the run from people trying to catch him. Victor was caught twice before finally being apprehended by two hunters. He stuck the interest of a doctor who wanted to see if he could help the young boy become better in society. Most people that that Victor was stupid and would not be able to learn anything. He did not know empathy or language but was able to learn a little about empathy. With love, kindness, and patient the doctor’s maid was able to teach him empathy. All Victor...
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...Socialisation &Feral Children Summary In this lecture we learned about socialisation and Wild or Feral children. The class started off with a question asking what we believed feral children were and what we thought socialisation consisted of. It seemed apparent that about half of the class were aware of what feral children were with the majority having an idea of what socialisation is. To explain to the class fully we were more than told what the meaning was but also shown videos to show the extent of the meaning. We learned that feral children we raised with no or minimal human interaction which resulted in them growing up basically alienated from human culture or lacking in socialisation skills. The video clips we watched showed harrowing examples of stories about feral children. For instance Oxana a girl from the Ukraine who lived for years with a pack of wild dog, the video clip showed her on all fours acting like a dog. We also learned of girl called Genie who was held captive alone in a dark room from the age of 1 to 13 by her father. She rarely saw other human beings and was spoon fed soft food which she could barely survive on. When she was discovered she could not walk, talk or stand up and was not toilet trained. We then discussed how once she was rescued how she struggled to adapt to socialisation and now lives in sheltered accommodation. There were numerous other examples given with the authenticity of some open to debate but all came back to the same point...
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...1. I chose a story about domesticating wild animals and its history that starts 30 to 40 thousand years ago. Link: http://www.theonion.com/article/study-humans-began-domesticating-animals-comfort-c-51391 2. The Onion`s argument is that people are domesticating wild animals, like wolves, in order to “comfort” children whose parents had separated. According to The Onion, our ancient ancestors first tamed and bred gray wolves 30 to 40 thousand years as a means of providing their children with a companion to keep them occupied and feeling less alone as they dealt with the emotional trauma of their mother and father splitting up. The funnies part of this article is in its arguments about taming wild animals. Nowadays, we can rarely see a tamed wolf, all because they are wild and dangerous. I can`t possibly imagine a wolf instead of a cat for example, as a friend for children. In my opinion, The Onion`s article is parodying a story about Mowgli from “The Jungle Book” series, where a boy whose name is Mowgli was found as a baby and raised by the wolves. 3. I chose this story because I found it unrealistic and funny. It also reminded me about a story of Mowgli that I read in my childhood. 4. I know that people always tried to tame different animals, including wild ones. Taming a wild horse is difficult; taming a wild elephant is even more difficult. However it`s almost impossible to tame a wild hunter, like wolf or lion, unless you do it since their first days of life...
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...Joshua French Professor Erika Burgess BI101 25 July 2012 Feral Pigs and the Negative Effects on Humans It is not every day that someone sits down and thoroughly thinks about the food that they consume. For that matter they do not even think about the animals that they touch, to include feral pigs. Feral pigs are, by definition, a pig that is not kept or bred in a holding (www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Feral+pig). In Eastern North Carolina these feral pigs are causing an uproar and uneasiness about them. The feral pigs are being accused of carrying a nasty bacteria that can be transmitted to humans, through a variety of different ways. Not only can they transmit a nasty bacteria, but also can do damage to farmers’ crops and land that in turn affects the way that the crops are harvested and how the ecosystem changes due to the damage that these feral pigs do. Wild pigs (also known as wild hogs or feral pigs) are an Old World species and are not native to the Americas. The first wild pigs in the United States originated solely from domestic stock brought to North America by early European explorers and settlers. Many years later, Eurasian wild boar were introduced into parts of the United States for hunting purposes. In areas where domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boar were found together in the wild, interbreeding occurred. Today, many hybrid populations exist throughout the wild pig’s range. Pigs were first introduced in the 1500’s to what is now the southeastern...
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...Feral Horses in the U.S. – Indigenous or Invasive Feral horse (mustang) herds roaming the Great American Plains are a well-known symbol of American history. Yet few are acquainted with their convoluted history and the socio-political and environmental conflicts they are involved in. The horses of today originated in North America but went extinct in prehistoric times due to unclear reasons. They disseminated to other continents and were reintroduced to North America by Columbus’ men. The period of the horses’ historical absence from North America has sparked debates as to their official status. Some horse advocates and environmentalists argue that feral horses are native to the continent and as such should be protected and given free space to roam. Their main arguments are that horses originated on and inhabited the continent long before humans started populating it, and that the feral horses of the Wild West are a national symbol of history and pride. Others, mainly farmers and agriculturalists, push for population control and limiting the mustangs’ area because they are an invasive non-native species that harms natural ecosystems and competes with livestock for resources. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is responsible for implementing policies concerning feral horses. Currently, following the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the Bureau captures feral horses and gives them away for adoption. The main issue facing the Bureau is the legal and environmental...
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...Feral Children By: Austin Arndt The video I choose to watch about feral children was about a boy named Sujit that was raised by chickens. He was raised by chickens because as a young child his parents became annoyed and frustrated with him so they locked him in the chicken coop for a lot of his childhood, because of this Sujit never learned any of the basic skills that we all know how to do like read, write, speak and other daily tasks. I think what Sujit’s parents did to him was terrible. I think that Sujit’s parents are terrible people for doing what they did to him. In the video they show Sujit when they first meet him. He cannot do anything or he can't understand anything that anyone is trying to tell him. Since he was raised by chickens he ate like a chicken and acted like a chicken, he even tried to speak with people the way chickens talk to each other. After they found Sujit they put him in a nursing home where they chained him up to a wall where he could only lay on his bed. I felt terrible for Sujit. No one tried to help him learn new things or how to talk. After a couple of years people took Sujit out of the nursing home where he was treated terrible and some very nice people brought him in where they devote almost every day to help Sujit learn basic skills that we use everyday. They are trying to teach him how to speak and read and write. He is making progress but since he learned the way of the chickens basically developed his brain they are pretty sure that...
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...PEST ANIMAL Feral cat ecology and control A descendant of the African wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica), the common ‘house’ cat (Felis catus) has now been domesticated for about 4000 years. Although the domestic cat has a long history of association with humans, it retains a strong hunting instinct and can easily revert to a wild (feral) state when abandoned or having strayed from a domestic situation. Semi-feral cats live around dump sites, alleys or abandoned buildings, relying on humans by scavenging rubbish scraps and sheltering in abandoned structures. The true feral cat does not rely on humans at all, obtaining its food and shelter from the natural environment. Declaration details The feral cat is declared as a Class 2 species under the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002. Declared species represent a threat to primary industries and natural resources, and have a social impact on other human activities. Legislation describes a feral cat as one that is not fed and kept by someone. The word ‘kept’ specifically means that the cat is housed in a domestic situation. PA26 June 2012 Description and general information The feral cat differs little in appearance from its domestic counterpart; however, when in good condition, the feral cat displays increased overall muscle development, especially noticeable around the head, neck and shoulders, which gives the animal a more robust appearance. The average body weight of male feral cats is 3–6 kg...
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...Causes? Agriculture: Overcropping: Theres huge amount of food to feed up people all over the World and https://prezi.com/y6nzp06mxdi7/gm-crops-and-loss-of-biodiversity/ Mining: Poaching: Rhino’s horn is used in Chinese medicine, they often kill the huge rhino to just get this horn -.- Pollution: Invasive species: Australia has some of the world's most distinctive and diverse natural environments, with unique wildlife, and spectacular landscapes, including many national parks and World Heritage Areas.But there r so many species are extinct bcs of Feral cat. Feral cats kill tens of millions of native animals every night and are found across Australia, Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. While they appear to prefer small mammals, they also eat birds, reptiles and amphibians. What government do to preserved biodiversity? There are several ways the governments can do to preserve biodiversity, such as: Protecting Areas | | Creating protected areas where human activity is limited is the best way to prevent deforestation and exploitation of organisms and the resources they need to survive. In order to truly make a difference, much planning needs to go into the creation of a protected area. It needs to consider all elements of the ecosystem it is trying to protect, so that it isn’t too small. It needs to include all resources that are utilized by its inhabitants; for example, leaving out a stream where half of the mammals go to drink would not make...
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...I believe this is especially a practical idea because of the large amount of international students we have on our Penn State campus. The Critical Period Hypothesis, also known and CPH, states that children must acquire their first language before puberty if they are to ever acquire one at all. This hypothesis is based on feral children. Feral children are children raised in the wild and eventually find their way to civilization. There seems to be many real stories about feral children as well as films being made about them. I find this to be important for two reasons, one being from personal experience. In high school I decided to learn Spanish in high school (after puberty), it almost seemed impossible and eventually I gave up. A weaker version of CPH says that the first language will be more difficult to learn after puberty. I know this hypothesis focuses on a child learning their first language but it makes one think about learning a second language, do these ideas still apply? Personally I think that this hypothesis would relate to any child or adult learning a language whether it be their first or fourth language. The second reason...
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...1. Genie gave researchers an opportunity to ethically study the effects of nature vs. nurture. She had not been taught to talk or do really anything. However the fact that the researchers are not sure if she was retarded at birth or not kind of makes the results questionable, they finally had a chance to see how language develops in a grown person who was passed the critical period. 2. One of the first things the researchers looked at was her brain waves. They found that she had an abnormally large amount of sleep spindles. This is characteristic of people who are retarded. They also did speech practices where they would repeat a statement to her until she would be able to repeat some part of it back to them. Like when they got her to say “doctor”. In order to make sure she was able to form special bonds with people, the researchers gave her a derogate parent who was with her during times a parent would normally be with a child. 3. They found that there was not really a way for the both of them to get their way entirely. If they wanted to preform good research on her, then some of Genie’s interests were going to put second. While if her interests were all a priority, they would not be able to fully study her. 4. When the researchers first started to teach Genie how to talk, things looked promising; so promising in fact, that they thought they were going to disprove the critical period theory. However, Genies progress soon started to dwindle. She was not able to express...
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