Baby girl found in litter of puppies

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Kenyans are eager to adopt baby girl found in litter of puppies
at 11:17 on May 10, 2005, EST.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Kenyans are eager to adopt a baby girl abandoned in a forest and later saved by a stray dog, officials said Tuesday.

"The publicity on the way the baby was rescued has sparked a lot of public interest in helping her," said Hannah Gakuo of Kenyatta National Hospital, where the newborn, dubbed Angel by health-care workers, is being treated for exposure and an infection in her umbilical cord.

"People have been calling the hospital, asking about the possibility of adopting her," Gakuo told The Associated Press.

Unwanted infants are often abandoned in Kenya, with poverty and failed relationships frequently to blame. Kenya's weak law enforcement and poor social security system mean most people who forsake their babies are never caught.

The stray dog that saved the child also was being cared for Tuesday, a day after its last surviving puppy died for unknown reasons, said Jean Gilchrist of the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals.

Animal welfare officials named the dog Mkombozi, or "Saviour," and gave the dog its first bath and de-worming.

"She looks a bit depressed, so we'd like to examine her to see if she has a temperature or any other problem," Gilchrist said. "She wasn't happy when we all poured into the compound. She decided to leave, but kids in the compound brought her back for the bath because she was full of ticks."

Mary Adhiambo, a resident in the compound where the dog lives, said Mkombozi apparently found the baby Friday in a plastic bag.

The dog reportedly dragged the baby across a busy road and through some barbed wire to the shed in the poor Nairobi neighbourhood where puppies from two stray dogs were sheltering.

The infant was discovered after two children alerted elders that they heard the sound of a baby crying near their wooden and corrugated-iron shack. Residents found the baby lying next to the mixed-breed dog and a own pup.

Residents took the child to a nearby police station to record a statement before taking her to the hospital.

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I love the story--in spite of my doubts. That wasn't a very big dog. I suspect that the baby's mother may have left her on the inhabited side of the busy road and the barbed wire fence.

I still love the story--and I'm glad the dog is being justly rewarded.

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Heartwarming tale. What is the source?

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wow. that's pretty incredible, isn't it?

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Intrepid wrote:

Heartwarming tale. What is the source?

AP = Associated Press

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Reyn wrote:

Intrepid wrote:
Heartwarming tale. What is the source?

AP = Associated Press

I know.... Was it in the newspaper, or is their a link?
Thanks

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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8443224

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Kenya baby saved by dog stirs hearts across globe
Tue May 10, 2005 11:47 AM ET
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NAIROBI (Reuters) - A baby girl rescued by a dog after being dumped in a Kenyan forest to die was offered homes across the world on Tuesday, with callers from as far away as Japan offering to care for the infant, dubbed Angel by nurses.
Catherine Gicheru, news editor of the Daily Nation, said her newspaper had been swamped by calls from would be adoptive parents in Japan, Venezuela and South Africa after carrying the story of the baby saved from a lonely death by a female dog.

"She was thrown away like garbage, so she has touched a lot of hearts. Everyone is looking at it like a miracle," Gicheru said.

The baby, estimated to be about two weeks old, was handed over to police by a family whose unnamed dog found her in a forest near Nairobi as she foraged for food for her puppies.

The dog carried the baby in her mouth across a busy road and set her down beside her puppies in the compound of the family's iron sheeted shack.

"Two of my children, Colins and Kennedy, came running to say there was a baby crying in the compound but they could not trace it," the Nation quoted housewife Mary Adhiambo as saying.

"I followed them outside and we started looking around the compound and a nearby plot. I saw my dog, which I have had for the last five years, lying protectively with a puppy beside a soiled baby wrapped in a torn black cloth. I held the baby in my arms and carried it to into the house."

Hannah Gakuo, a spokeswoman for Kenyatta National Hospital, said the girl was stable and undergoing tests. Several callers to the hospital had offered material and financial support as well as new homes, she said.

Once the doctors were satisfied she was out of danger she would be handed to the government's Department of Children's Services, which would handle applications from would-be adoptive parents.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=4b08fec7d87531cf&cat=a262965e0c331d64

Written by RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer.

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