{"id":476300,"date":"2026-03-15T03:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T03:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476300\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T03:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T03:33:21","slug":"i-was-raised-by-wolves-in-a-cave-for-12-years-now-im-disappointed-with-human-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476300\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was raised by wolves in a cave for 12 years now I’m disappointed with human life’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcos Rodr\u00edguez Pantoja was raised by wolves in a cave for 12 years before he was discovered – but the 72-year-old says his life among humans has been a disappointment\"An<\/p>\n

Marcos Rodr\u2019guez Pantoja spent 12 years living with wolves(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

A man who spent 12 years being raised by wolves in a cave has confessed he feels let down by human existence.<\/p>\n

Marcos Rodr\u00edguez Pantoja earned the nickname the Mowgli of Spain when authorities discovered him.<\/p>\n

However, the former wolf boy says he finds the harshness of the human world<\/a> difficult and longs to return to life amongst the animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He told the BBC<\/a>: “I didn’t know where to go – I just wanted to escape to the mountains.”<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez was 19 when he was found living in Spain’s Sierra Morena mountain range, reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He had been living amongst wolves for 12 years and was discovered running about barefoot and semi-clothed – communicating only through grunts.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Marcos communicated only through grunts(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

Yet the now 72-year-old lives in a tiny, chilly home and claims his final joyful memories are from his youth with the creatures, El Pais reports.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez ended up living with the wolves after losing both parents.<\/p>\n

Woolly mammoths will be back in 2028, how you could live to 200, alien signals lost in the weather, could we fight Godzilla, and a creature with 20 arms has been found near the Antarctic – all this and more in our latest weird science newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

His mother died when he was three and his father moved in with another woman.<\/p>\n

They brought him to the mountains to take over from a goatherd who tended 300 animals – but while he learnt how to create fire and tools, the man vanished or died leaving seven-year-old Rodr\u00edguez abandoned.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

He was left alone at just seven(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

The mountain’s creatures became his sole companions and just like in the Jungle Book tale, the wolf cubs welcomed him as kin.<\/p>\n

A female wolf nursed him and he rested in a cave with bats, snakes and deer.<\/p>\n

The wolves also showed him how to endure and which berries and mushrooms were edible.<\/p>\n

He explained: “One day I went into a cave and started to play with wolf cubs that lived here and fell asleep. Later, the mother brought food for them and I woke up,” the BBC reports.<\/p>\n

“The wolf started to rip the meat apart. A cub got close to me and I tried to steal his food because I was hungry as well. The mother pawed at me. I backed off.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

He now lives in a tiny home, which resembles a cave(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

However, he claims that after feeding her young, she tossed him a piece of meat.<\/p>\n

He recalled: “I didn’t want to touch it because I thought she was going to attack me, but she was pushing the meat with her nose.<\/p>\n

“I took it, ate it, and thought she was going to bite me, but she put her tongue out, and started to lick me. After that I was one of the family.”<\/p>\n

Yet after Rodr\u00edguez was discovered by the Civil Guard and returned to human society, he claims his life has completely unravelled.<\/p>\n

He maintains he has been deceived, mistreated and taken advantage of in the workplace and has never genuinely managed to fit in with other people.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Marcos spends as much time in nature as he can(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

He also believes others mock him because he knows little about politics or football or contemporary life.<\/p>\n

He said: “I think they laugh at me because I don’t know about politics or soccer.”<\/p>\n

And while he has attempted to go back to the mountains, he says it’s no longer the same and the wolves don’t remember him.<\/p>\n

Speaking to El Pais he explained: “There are wolves and if I call out to them they are going to respond, but they are not going to approach me.<\/p>\n

“I smell like people, I wear cologne.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

He says he’s found human life difficult(Image: bbc.co.uk)<\/p>\n

In 2010 a film ‘Among Wolves’ was released based on Rodr\u00edguez’s life and numerous studies have been carried on him.<\/p>\n

He even claims he can still replicate the sounds of the deer, fox and eagles – along with other creatures.<\/p>\n

However, he says while he had to adapt to eating with cutlery and sleeping in a bed, one of the most disturbing aspects for him was the commotion and activity of community life.<\/p>\n

He said: “I could not cope with so much noise, the cars, and people going back and forwards like ants. But at least ants all go in the same direction. People went everywhere. I was scared of crossing the road.”<\/p>\n

He now lives in a small house, with cave-like low ceilings which is filled with memorabilia and drawings.<\/p>\n

He also has a patio brimming with plants and flowers to help him feel as though he is in the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcos Rodr\u00edguez Pantoja was raised by wolves in a cave for 12 years before he was discovered –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2851,243,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-476300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-bbc","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}