11-Year-Old Rescued After Being Held Captive At Home With Over 20 Stray Dogs

The police in India are investigating the parents of an 11-year-old boy who had been held captive inside his home that housed more than 20 stray dogs.

The unidentified child from Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, was rescued Monday after locals alerted Childline NGO officials about a boy, who appeared to be mentally disturbed and locked inside an apartment with the dogs, Hindustan Times reported.

The officials who came to check on the boy on May 5 found the child sitting at the window of his locked apartment that had a foul stench. When they visited the house again on May 9, the boy was still found confined while his parents were not at the apartment. The Childline workers then alerted the police, who responded to the scene and rescued the boy.

The officials said they found the child with mannerisms that "resembled canines" after being locked with the dogs for almost two years. The boy was shifted to a shelter home and an investigation is underway, police said.

The Childline workers said they found four dog carcasses inside the house and the place reeked with the smell of animal excreta.

"We also got to know that his schooling was stopped as he started acting like a dog. We have, therefore, urged the police to give him proper treatment as well as counseling and follow the directions of the Child Welfare Committee(CWC)," Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe, a Childline official, said, as reported by The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, senior investigating officer Sardar Patil said the police will take action based on the report from the Child Welfare Committee. "We may arrest the parents of the boy. He will be produced before the CWC. Further action will be taken as per the directions of the CWC," he added.

A Florida woman was arrested last year for allegedly keeping a severely autistic child caged inside her filthy and uninhabitable home. Melissa Ann Doss of Palm Bay, identified as the caregiver of the nonverbal child, was charged with child neglect and abuse for allegedly keeping the child locked inside homemade metal and wooden cage every night. The officials who responded to the scene said the house reeked of feces and urine and did not have a working toilet.