Armani Maldonado: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a 2012 fantasy/drama film featuring the Annie star Quvenzshané Wallis. The film opens in the home of Quvenzshané's character, six-year old Hushpuppy, trying to set a chick onto a mud throne, a rather interesting activity. The film goes on to reveal to us the environment that Hushpuppy is living in, a very poor secret society away from civilization.

Hushpuppy seems to have a tendency to try to listen to animals. She could be seen at the beginning of the film holding the chick to her ear trying to listen, to what exactly I am not sure; it could be its heart beat, its thoughts, its speech?
I also found it hard to understand the mind state of the father of Hushpuppy, Wink, played by Dwight Henry. It seemed like he would just leave his five-year old daughter to fend for herself voluntarily. Does he not understand the safety issues of this decision or does he just not care? If he doesn't care why doesn't he just allow someone else to care for Hushpuppy instead of letting her fend for herself in the dangerous world that they live in that is The Bathtub.