Dog saves an abandoned newborn baby
A dog protected a newborn after its teenaged mother abandoned the baby soon after giving birth in a field in rural Argentina.
A dog protected a newborn after its teenaged mother abandoned the baby soon after giving birth in a field in rural Argentina.
The report from Buenos Aires said that a villager, alerted by the cries of the baby in a field behind his house, informed the police.
He found the baby lying beside the dog and its brood of six newborn puppies, said Daniel Salcedo, police chief of the Province of Buenos Aires. The temperature was a chilly three degrees centigrade, he added.
Apparently the 14-year-old mother had dumped the baby not far from where the dog was nursing its puppies, the police said.
"She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died. "The dog is a hero to us," he added.
Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero Hospital in La Plata, about 55 km from Buenos Aires, said the police approached the hospital at 11:30 pm on Wednesday with the baby, which was only a few hours old.
Though the infant had superficial scratches and bruises and was bleeding from his mouth, he was in good shape, current.com quoting Melia said.
The next morning, the child's mother was driven by a neighbour to the hospital and told authorities that the eight-pound, 13-ounce infant is hers, Melia said.
The teenager was immediately given psychological treatment and was hospitalised, he said. She had little to say about the incident.
The infant has been transferred to a children's hospital in La Plata.