Fiji Man Raised by Chickens
Print Article E-mail Article
Sunjit Kumar
Sunjit Kumar, shown right, is being rehabilitated by a local rotary club.
This is not a joke.
Web Editor: Sean Rowe
Last Modified: 7/9/2004 10:06:35 AM
A man who was raised by chickens
is learning to live as a human for the first time in 32 years. Sunjit Kumar spent his life locked in a chicken coop in Fiji.
After his parents died, Kumar’s grandfather gained custody of him. But, his grandfather apparently didn’t know what to do with the young boy, so he decided to lock him inside of a chicken coop.
There, Kumar picked up all the behavior and mannerisms of the other chickens in the coop.
Years later, Kumar was discovered living in the coop and freed. Still, doctors didn’t know how to treat him, so the local rotary club is working to rehabilitate him.
Club president Elizabeth Clayton said, "He had imitated or imprinted with the chicken."
"He was perching, he was picking at his food, he was hopping around like a chicken. He'd keep his hands in a chicken-like fashion and he'd make a noise which was like the calling of a chicken, which he still has," she said.
Kumar is reportedly making remarkable progress having learned how to walk and eat from a plate.