A Jack Russell has been hailed a hero after dragging his owner into some bushes to discover an abandoned new born baby.
Macho pulled on his lead to take his owner off the path and into the undergrowth in a park in St Petersburg, Russia.
The poor baby girl was too weak to cry and was suffering from hypothermia after being wrapped in a t-shirt and left in the bushes.
The owner, a pensioner, said:
I felt my heart pounding when I saw the baby. She was waving her little legs and arms in the air, but she was silent.
As doctors told me later, she must have been crying for hours.
He picked up the child and ran to a Russian national guard patrol he’d seen in the park earlier on the walk.
The baby girl, who weighed just 5lbs, was rushed to hospital ‘just in time to save her,’ according to doctors.
A spokesperson from the Russian National Guard said:
It is very unlikely she would have been noticed if not for Macho.
This smart dog pulled his owner – much against his will – towards a deserted area of the park.
Deep in the bushes the man saw a little something wrapped in a t-shirt.
This was the baby girl, who by then was too weak to cry.
Five days after being rushed into hospital, the little girl is said to be ‘extremely robust,’ according to medical staff, who are confident she will survive.
One nurse described the baby as a ‘fighter’, and police are now searching to find her mother.
A nurse at Hospital Number 17 said:
Our hearts ache for the baby and for her mother.
Whatever forced the mother to abandon her baby minutes after birth has to be changed.
We can’t have situations like this.
Macho’s owner, who has chosen not to be named, is still in shock after his dog’s discovery, adding ‘the whole story made me feel very upset.’
The pooch is likely to be awarded for his heroic actions in finding the baby girl.
Here’s to wishing the baby girl a speedy recovery and hoping all the right support and care is given to the family.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.