Kenyan dog who saved baby being cared for by Kenya SPCA

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Kenyans Eager to Adopt Baby Rescued by Dog

 

By RODRIQUE NGOWI

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.

 

Officials in the government's Children Department were not

immediately available to comment on the problem of abandoned babies

and Angel's possible fate.

 

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 ``Savior,''

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 neighborhood where

puppies from two stray dogs were sheltering.

 

The baby 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 her own pup.

 

Residents took the child to a nearby police station to record a

statement before taking her to the hospital.

 

 

05/10/05 08:16

 

 

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