In 1965, as they scoured the vast Sierra Morena mountain range, members of the Civil Guard made an unlikely discovery.
Wandering the mountains on all fours, naked and barefoot, a young man emerged from the foliage.
It was Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja, a 19-year-old who had spent the last 12 years living in the mountains and in complete isolation from human society.
The shocked officers could not comprehend how he had managed to survive in the wilderness for so long.
He had huge calluses on his feet and could not speak, only using grunts in response to their questions.
But it would turn out that the teenager had found a group of unlikely companions – a pack of wolves who took him in as one of their own and helped him to survive.
Pantoja, who became known as the ‘Mowgli of Spain’, said his happiest days were the 12 years he spent living with his family of wolves.
The Spaniard, who spent the later years of his life in the northern Spanish province of Ourense, passed away on August 15 at the age of 80.
Spaniard Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja, who was raised by wolves, has died at the age of 80. He is pictured here interracting with wolves after returning to the mountains in 2010
His extraordinary story began after he was sent to the Sierra Morena mountain range in 1954 as a goatherd. Pictured: Pantoja playing with a wolf
His extraordinary story has been documented throughout the years and was even turned into a film by Spanish director Gerardo Olivares.
Pantoja said he found freedom living in the mountains. He had been subjected to cruel abuse by his stepmother after his mother died when he was three and his father remarried.
With too many mouths to feed, his father and stepmother eventually sent him to the mountains to work as a goatherd, where he lived with an old man who taught him how to use fire and make utensils.
But when the old man eventually died when Pantoja was just seven, he was suddenly left on the mountain alone.
He said he survived by observing which berries and root vegetables animals ate and was eventually fed by a mother wolf who later adopted him.
He recalled in interviews how he watched as the she-wolf fed her cubs some meat.
‘After feeding her pups, she threw me a piece of meat. 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,’ he told the BBC in 2013.
‘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.’
Pantoja said he also had a snake for company who followed him around because he fed her goat’s milk.
He was eventually found in 1965 by the Civil Guards. By then, he had spent 12 years in complete isolation from human beings.
Officers removed him from the mountains by force, bound and gagged, as he howled and bit like a wolf.
Pantoja said returning to civilisation was the scariest experience of his life. He was first sent to an orphanage where nuns taught him how to walk up straight, eat at a table and speak again.
He didn’t know how to use cutlery, and would often find it more comfortable to walk on all fours.
He was confined to a wheelchair for a time after thick calluses were cut off his feet, and his first visit to a barber had him terrified that the razor would cut his throat.
Pantoja described how he was scared by the sounds of cars and bustling crowds, and that he often fought with the nuns about sleeping in a bed.
He was later sent to Mallorca, where he lived in a hostel and worked. But he struggled to integrate into society.
While living in a rented apartment, he said he slept on the floor on a pile of blankets.
He was eventually found in 1965 by the Civil Guards. By then, he had spent 12 years in complete isolation from human beings
Pantoja spoke about his struggles trying to reintegrate into societ. Pictured: antoja in the 2010 film ‘Among Wolves’
He completed military service and ended up working as a shepherd and in the hospitality industry.
However, he claimed that he was taken advantage of financially by acquaintances, as his cultural and financial understanding was limited.
In 2018, he gave an interview in which he said he was disappointed in human nature and wished he could leave society.
Pantoja eventually tried to return to the mountains but found it was a very different place from what he remembered, and his cave was replaced with cottages and electric gates.
The wolves also didn’t accept him anymore and kept their distance.
‘You can tell that they are right there; you hear them panting, it gives you goosebumps… but it’s not that easy to see them,’ he said.
‘There are wolves, and if I call out to them, they are going to respond, but they are not going to approach me. I smell like people; I wear cologne.’
In 2010, he became the subject of the Spanish film ‘Among Wolves’.
