Feral Humanity

The question is: If we aren't born "human," but must become "human," do feral children (half-human half-"animal") deserve human rights? Is it speciesist to grant feral children rights and not extend this to other species equally as conscious. Let us first break down the word "Human". When we look at the dictionary definition we find: having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings; "human beings"; "the human body"; "human kindness"; "human frailty". Another word derived from the word human is "humane" it's definition is: marked or motivated by concern with the alleviation of suffering. How we treat others is based solely on how view others. Let us not forget there is no inherent law saying that we should and should not do anything. Others think people are as simple as clock work, simple cogs working in a machine and that its the different placement of these gears that creates everything including our emotional behavior. A website called http://www.keirsey.com/ goes as far as to say there are only 16 different types of people in this world evenly categorizing everyone into their specific characters. But nowhere in these 16 characters is one that describes feral children or feral beings. Does that mean these feral people are any less human than every other human being? Everything else is learned either through emotional experience or environmental teachings. But there are things that we as the average human do that thickens that line between the human race and everyone else. It is not how many differences there are between humans and other races that ever thickens that imaginary line between humanity and nature, it is the magnitude.

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It is said that it is human nature seek affection from another being regardless of race. In the case of Oxana she was abandoned as a young child and in her emotional distress she sought affection from an unlikely of creatures. She sought help from a mother wolf who raised her as an early child where she learned to act and behave like a wolf. Is it specieist to give these people clothing and rights we give other people? Well to be fair it is natural to treat a human like a human. But if these feral beings prove to be problems in a common human atmosphere which includes interaction with other people then according to law around the world it is they do not deserve these natural human rights. According to Aristotle's definition of natural law is a view that certain rights or values are inherent in or universally cognizable by virtue of human reason or human nature. Other philosophers such as Tom Regan argue that all animals have inherent rights and that we cannot assign them a lesser value because of a perceived lack of rationality. But in the case of Oxana Malaya she has been deemed unsafe to be placed into a normal human society because of her animal like behaviors. Oxana the wolf girl has now become Oxana the mentally impaired. She remains in a ukranian mental hospital where she tends the cattle of the facility. She says she is happiest when she is with other dogs. She has also stated that she likes to bark and howl because it is in her nature. A girl who has been given the recent gift of speech fully understands the word naturally and is using in a way that makes not only sense to her but to other people. She doesn't just want to do these dog like behaviors she feels the need to at sometimes occasionally creating loud outbursts at other people under the right occasions some even violent. It isn't feral people that lose their rights to be treated like a human. It is the people who are too dangerous to be out in public that lose their rights. It is a terrible shame that Oxana was put through such a hard life.

-Mark Wagner