The Dogs of Winter (26 page)

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the social and economic fabric of Russia was left in tatters. Gone were the government-controlled systems such as health care, rent control, and pensions that had provided some semblance of a safety net for families, children, the elderly, and those living on the edge of economic stability. As a result, many parents (in the cities and in rural villages) could no longer afford to keep their children. Alcoholism, physical neglect, and abuse tore families apart, forcing children to take refuge on the streets. By the mid-1990s, estimates of the number of homeless children in Moscow and St. Petersburg were anywhere between 80,000 and 2 million. Most of these children formed packs, and lived in abandoned buildings and in the city's large underground train stations. The children were both ever-present and subtly invisible — a backdrop, at best, to city life.

Ivan Mishukov was one of these street children. In 1996, at the age of four, Ivan left his abusive home — or was sent away by his mother, no one knows for sure — and ended up on the streets of western Moscow. W hat distinguished him from the thousands of other street children was not his age
or his circumstances. Ivan chose to depend on a pack of feral street dogs rather than other children for his survival and, eventually, to be his family. For the next two years, Ivan established a very close, symbiotic relationship with the dogs. He begged for food from passersby and shopkeepers, and shared his food with the dogs. In return, the dogs protected him from roving gangs of older children and homeless adults, and helped him survive the brutal Russian temperatures in winter that can often reach twenty below zero. But it was not purely a relationship of physical survival. In an article about Ivan in the
Chicago Sun-Times
, July 26, 1998, Ivan reportedly told a worker at the Reutov children's shelter, “I was better off with the dogs. They loved and protected me.”

What became of Ivan after his separation from the dogs? This is a question that has no definitive answer. Over the years I spent researching the different aspects of Ivan's story, I came across several vague answers. Some said he remained in one orphanage or another; other accounts suggested he had been adopted. I even read that he was a student in an elite military academy. There were two things consistent in reference to Ivan's future — one gave me hope, the other was the spark that ignited my fictional account: Because Ivan retained his facility for speech and he appeared exceptionally bright, social workers were optimistic that he would, over time, adjust to normal life; and in almost every account I read of Ivan after his capture from his pack, it was reported that, even after a year, he still dreamed every night of dogs.

In the years since Ivan Mishukov found himself homeless on the streets of Moscow, there has been some improvement for the street children of Russia. The biggest change has been the attention the problem of homeless children and youth in Russia has attracted — not only on the world stage but, more importantly, by the Russian state. As of 2006, the Russian government had committed almost 6 billion rubles to the federal child and homeless and juvenile crime prevention program. The number of orphanages in Russia has increased by more than 100% in the last decade. Still, 2007 estimates of the number of children living on the streets run between 500,000 to 800,000. UNICEF estimates 95% of these children are social orphans, meaning they have at least one living parent.

The problem of homeless children is not unique to Russia. In a recent report issued by UNICEF, there are an estimated 100 million street children worldwide. Whether these children are in Africa, India, Cambodia, Spain, or the United States (where there are an estimated 1.3 million homeless and runaway street kids), they all face the same problems: drug and alcohol addiction, malnutrition, violent encounters with gangs and police, HIV infection, exploitation, and early death.

This is just one child's story.

Ivan Mishukov:

Feral Children:

Homeless in Russia:

Russian Street Children:

Street Dogs of Russia:

Additional Resources:

As always, I owe a huge thank you to my agent, Alyssa Eisner-Henkin, for opening her heart and championing Mishka's story.

My editor, Arthur A. Levine, believed in this story and my ability to tell it, from the beginning. With his respectful and compassionate guidance, he helped me write the story I had dreamed of for years.

I would not have encountered the inspiration for this book — Ivan Mishukov — without Julie Richard's article, “The Wild Children: When Nature Replaces Nurture,” in
Best Friends
magazine way back in 2005. A special thank you to Best Friends Animal Society for all they do for homeless animals.

Two books in particular were vital in my research. Many thanks to Michael Newton for his excellent examination of feral children in his book,
Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children
. Margaret Winchell's memoir of her time in Russia,
Armed with Patience
, helped me understand life in Russia in the mid-1990s.

An invaluable resource that helped me see what life was (and still is) like for Russia's homeless children was Hanna
Polak's critically acclaimed documentary,
The Children of Leningradsky
. Many thanks to Hanna and Active Child Aid for their continued efforts to make these invisible children not only visible, but valued.

Bottomless thanks to the patient and talented members of my pack: Chris Graham, Lora Koehler, and Jean Reagan. Y'all watched me gnaw on this bone for a long time. Also thanks to Lisa Actor, Corinne Humphrey, and Sydney Salter for reading early drafts and providing the two things writers need most: support and feedback.

Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Todd, who makes me feel loved and protected.