Dogs waited to pounce on abandoned 3-yr-old

She lay on a couch, her cherubic face the cynosure of all eyes. Many a visitor who flocked the health centre to catch a glimpse of the baby on Monday expressed a desire to take the infant home.

She lay on a couch, her cherubic face the cynosure of all eyes. Many a visitor who flocked the health centre to catch a glimpse of the baby on Monday expressed a desire to take the infant home.

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A far cry from the manner in which and the spot where she was found abandoned only hours earlier. She was found by Thane resident Vijay Patil (35) in a thicket of bushes, a pack of stray canines circling around, waiting to wolf her down.

Had it not been for a local’s timely intervention, she might not have made it.

Patil, a Shiv Sena worker, got a call and rushed there with a few party workers and rescued her. “She was bitten by ants,” said Patil.

“Her umbilical cord is still intact… she should be about two or three days old,” said a doctor at the health centre. The underweight baby will be kept in the neo-natal intensive care unit,” said child specialist Dr Namish Sawaria.

Dr Sawaria said the baby was born at some hospital as her body bore a stamp impression — a typical practice with newborns in hospitals. “It’s difficult to specify which one,” he said.

“After a couple of days of medical observation, she will be sent to a remand home as per court orders,” said Police Sub-Inspector A.V. Patil.

The baby is being treated at Kalwa’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital.