Police to check disturbing scene of leashed girl walking on all fours in park

Footage shot by Ekaterinburg resident Alexey Vlaskin shows a woman walking a girl on a leash at Zelenaya Roshcha park.

'I saw this in the park on 20 July in the afternoon. I was walking around the football field and came across this strange couple,' he said. 'I watched them for 10 minutes, the child ran around on all fours. Very skilfully, I would have said. 

'I did not see her getting up on her feet. Other children hand-fed her with bread, she ran up to them like a dog.' He did not ask the woman why she walks with a child in such a strange manner.

The Russian president's children's rights commissioner today intervened in the case which he branded monstrous and criminal.

'The representative of the children's rights commissioner in Sverdlovsk region is sorting out the monstrous case of a girl walking on a leash,' said Pavel Astakhov on Twitter. 'Such child abuse is unacceptable and criminal.'

When the footage was shown on the site of a local newspaper, a woman called the office to say she recognised the girl and her grandmother from classes at a child development centre. 

'She is about 5 years old, a little aggressive yet not crazy, but like many children, she played as if she was a cat, but not to this extent of going on all fours,' said the woman. The caller said the grandmother was 'weird' always walking around in a sheepskin coat whatever the weather.

Police spokesman Valery Gorelykh said: 'The video will be studied by specialists of the Juvenile Affairs Service.'

The would check up 'what is behind this video - whether the child is ill, of if there was any violation of the rights of the child'. If needed there would be checks on 'the woman's and child's personalities'.