VANCOUVER (AFP) -- Two half-starved male youths who recently emerged from the British Columbia wilderness claiming to have lived since birth in near isolation are now in limbo as officials try to determine how to help them.

The brothers, Thomas and William Green, were discovered camping in the bush behind a general store in Vernon, British Columbia some weeks ago by local residents who have since given them food, clothing and shelter.

Thomas and William Green, 22 and 16 years old respectively, said they were born and raised in the backwoods by U.S. parents who call themselves Mary and Joseph, but have no proof of their identities.

Even more unusual, they claim they have never been to school, seen a doctor, watched television or had any childhood friends, said Rhelda Evans, an aid to Canadian MP (member of Parliament) Darrel Stinson.

They hunted and rummaged for food and their sole contact with the outside world was with a family friend who visited infrequently, and rare trips with their parents to the town of Revelstoke to buy supplies.

Thomas Greens told Evans he left their remote homestead a few months ago after his decision to become a vegetarian horrified his mother, she said.

"She called him 'an alien influence.' The mother may have just realized there was no way he could survive in the winter in Revelstoke as a vegetarian and asked him to leave. Also, because he was now 22, he was old enough to go out on his own and look after himself," she said.