The BBC News reports, Nov. 1, 2013, that Roger Wilday was walking with his German shepherd, Jade, in a community park in Stechford, Birmingham, UK, when the dog was attracted to some bushes.
There in the bushes was a bag from a toy shop.
Wilday first thought they had found a bag of dumped kittens and was shocked to find a crying baby inside, wrapped in a blanket and naked from the waist up: “I was just coming back [out of the park] and Jade went to some bushes and she wouldn’t come back to me… I went to look and saw a carrier bag in the bushes and it moved. I thought, ‘what’s that?’ and heard a cry and so I looked in the bag and it was a baby in there.”
After making the discovery, Wilday contacted a friend who called the police. Wilday was told to pick the baby up and he was then met by officers in the park.
The baby was thought to be about 24 hours old when she was found; she had been there for about 30 minutes before being discovered. Wilday believes it was his dog’s superior hearing that led to the find and said he was relieved the baby had only been there for a short time.
Wilday said it was very “lucky” his dog found the baby when she did. ”If she had been there overnight, I think she might have died. I think my dog saved the baby’s life. I’m very proud of her.”
The baby was admitted to Heartlands Hospital. Ch Insp Ian Green said: “Pediatricians have confirmed the baby was lucky to be found when she was, as even just a few more hours exposed to the elements could have had fatal consequences.
Police said the towel she was wrapped in, along with the carrier bag, had been sent away for fast-track DNA forensics to help identify her parents. Checks have been made with regional hospitals, medical centers and care homes.
West Midland Police said the girl, who weighs about 6lbs, is now “alert, happy and contented” and should make a full recovery over the next two days.
Wilday appealed to the mother to come forward and said he hoped to visit the baby in the coming days: ”She’s a beautiful baby… just come forward because she is missing out on these first few days.”
The hospital staff named the abandoned baby after Jade the dog who had found her and saved her life.
H/t FOTM’s CSM
~Eowyn
