A 5-year-old Russian girl who barks instead of talks has been removed from the apartment where she was “raised” by cats and dogs, authorities said yesterday.

“Natasha” was kept in a dirty apartment in Siberia where she lived with family members including her father and grandparents and never went outside, said Nina Yemelyanova, an official at the facility.

“Today, when I left the room, she jumped up to the door and started to bark,” she told Rossiya television.

The child, who was taken to a children’s home, mimics the behavior of the animals she lived with.

She had developed feral characteristics, said police official Larisa Popova. “There were many animals — both dogs and cats. In all probability, the girl lived with and was raised by these animals,” Popova told Rossiya television.

The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Natasha’s mother as saying the girl’s father took her away when she was 2½ years old.

But the father pointed the finger at her, insisting his mother-in-law urged him to take Natasha because the mother was not caring for her. , the news agency quoted regional police spokesman Yegor Markov as saying.

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