Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1875 — Are Children Ever Nursed by Wolves? [ARTICLE]

Are Children Ever Nursed by Wolves?

The Rev. Dr. Ellinwood, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, in a letter from Cawnpore, India, to the New York Evangelist, has the following paragraphs: Our interest was greatly excited at the Secundra Orphanage by one inmate, known as the “ Wolf-boy.” Within ten Sears two boys, said to have been found vmg with wild wolves, have been brought to Mr. Erhardt for support. One of them died about two years since, having proved too untamable to endure human habits. The one still remaining was found when apparently about seven years of age, and he has* been about eight years at the Orphanage. The story of his capture is this: Some native farmers, being greatly troubled by the incursions of wolves, followed them to theix dens, and proceeded “to smoke them out” by building fires in the entrance. At length the whole wolf family emerged, old and young, and among them this boy, running rapidly on hands and feet. The story seemed to be corroborated by the fact that, when brought to the Orphanage, he still bore the marks of the fire through which he had passed. He also walked like a quadruped, and would receive at first only raw flesh, which he ate as all the carnivora do, gnawing it at the side of his mouth. As we saw him he was standing erect, and had learned td submit to clothing. His expressions were of course unintelligible, and sounded more like those of an animal than like a human voice, though he was scarcely more bestial in appearance than many of the lowest grades of idiots. There was, however, a restless motion of the head and a gnashing of the teeth which appeared decidedly canine. That children have been nourished and reared by wolves is not to be credited without the very strongest evidences. The missionaries at Secundra, however, and, so far as I know, all other intelligent citizens in the neighborhood, regard the proof in these two eases as entirely valid. Nor are these the only “wolf-boys” who are claimed to have been found in India. Max Muller, of London, on seeing some accounts of these curious freaks of nature, opened a correspondence some months since with various persons in India on the subject.

As a result there have appeared thus far six cases which seem to be well attested by missionaries and by officers in the civil and military service. There is no country where such things would be more likely to occur than in India. The prevalence of wild animal life, even in well-settled districts, is surprising. We saw in one instance not less than thirty huge apes in one band only a few rods from the railway. Deer $r gazelles were frequently seen feeding within easy shot of laborers in the field. On two occasions goats were carried ofl by wolves from the mission compounds, in which we were spending the night. According to a recent census of the northwest provinces 2,000 lives were destroyed • in one year by wild animals, mostly wolves. The great majority are children who are snatched away at nightfall from the vicinity—sometimes from the very doors of their rude homes. With these facts no further light can be given on the subject of the wolfbovs. Whether the maternal instinct of a wolf, when not particularly hungry, might in one of 10,000 cases take such'a freak as to protect a child which she had intended to eat, and allow it to share her prey, is a question for each theorist to decide for himself. It is worthy of note that all these children are idiots. If we suppose that they were originally sound their wolf regimen has reversed the Darwinian process and borne thein back to bestiality both in body and in mind.