An eight-year-old girl in China's Sichuan Province was rescued after having been forced to live her entire life in a pig pen by her mother. The revelations has ignited outrage among the local community.

The girl, who's identity was kept secret and has been referred to by the pseudonym Xiao Zhong, was removed from the pen by local officials and is now getting medical treatment for brain paralysis.

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As a result of her life in the pigsty, the child suffered malnutrition and illness, was unable to speak, and weighed as much as a small dog at only 7 kg (15.4 lbs.).

"I saw a girl in the sty covered with a shabby blanket and a red hat," said Peng Liying, deputy chief of Daocheng county, who brought Xiao Zhong to a local hospital in October. "She was caught in between some stones and seemed unable to move."

Local villagers reportedly said that the child's 43-year-old mother suffers from chronic mental illness, and had given birth to Xiao Zhong and a twin after being raped in 2006.  After the twin died, the mother began raising her surviving child in the sty.

China's netizens railed against local residents for their indifference and called on the government to rescue neglected children.

"This tragedy is not a matter of money, or a problem of social awareness," Guo Hong, an expert at Sichuan University-Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, told Global Times. "But reveals the defects of the current legal system." 

TagsChinese Girl Rescued After Being Forced to Live in Pigpen, Chinese Girl rescued after spending entire life in pigsty, Xiao Zhong, eight-year-old girl, pigsty, Sichuan