Laying hens in a hut: the shocking story of a Portuguese abandoned woman (9 photos)

Chickens are considered one of the dumbest creatures on the planet. But they can also act as saviors.





Maria Isabel Quaresma dos Santos is an ordinary girl. The baby was born in 1970 on a farm in the Portuguese village of Tabua near the city of Coimbra.

The baby was in good health. But all is not well was with her mother's head, which was later confirmed by doctors. Up to a year the woman was still somehow taking care of the child, and then she took her daughter to the chicken coop and threw it there.



Remains of the destroyed home of the Dos Santos family

The next 10 years, when girls grow up, get to know the world, themselves, rejoice in the usual girlish charms - dolls, books, dresses Maria fought daily for life. Literally ate pasture food - grain, grass, scraps that people threw to the omnivorous bird.

At the same time, the older brothers of the unfortunate grew up ordinary children went to school. Other relatives and neighbors, knowing full well about situation, were silent, did not attempt to save the child and adhered to the principle "my hut is on the edge."



A ghostly chance first appeared 6 years later, when one a spark of conscience flashed from Maria's aunts. She put pressure on her parents and forced them to take the girl to the doctor for the first time in their lives.

He immediately said that Maria was a severely disabled person. But ordinary medical institutions refused to take it, and specialized there were no psychiatric clinics in the outback. And the unfortunate was returned back to chicken coop.



After release

In 1980, the story of a chicken girl, a demented child, whom the family keeps in the barn, reached the ears of one of the nurses of the clinic Hospital de Torres Vedras. Maria Bihao rushed to the village and took girl. She spent two weeks at the savior's house. Being a physician Bihao realized that the girl was deeply ill and needed specialized treatment. Contacted the press and asked for help.



A special role in the fate of the girl from the chicken coop was played by the then The first lady is Manuela Eanesh. She was imbued with the fate of the child, who so many trials fell on her short life, and she achieved placement in the best rehabilitation center of the country.

The doctors who observed Maria agreed that the reason mental retardation - the so-called social orphanhood: zero human communication plus behavior based on instincts.



The behavior of Mary, who completely adopted the habits of her feathered neighbors-educators. moved short steps, constantly waving his arms, like wings. The girl did not know how to speak, and she showed emotions by clucking.



Outwardly, dos Santos looked like a five-year-old child, and intellectual level of development corresponded to the age of maximum 2 of the year. Despite the efforts of doctors and psychologists, she never mastered speech. could. But at least she learned to walk like a man, without crouching every minute and without extending your arms. With gestures, a woman learned to show their wishes or unwillingness.



Now the chicken girl is already over 50. She lives in rehabilitation center in Fatima. The staff carefully guards the unusual patient from the attention of the press, dreaming of getting a sensation, or at least take a photo of Maria.



History strikes with callousness and indifference, distorted man's life. Even the brainless chickens, in their own way protecting the strange foundling, showed themselves in it as beings much more noble in compared to nonhumans.