Couple heard ‘cat’s cry’ in the woods and instead found an abandoned newborn girl

Most people are familiar with the saying, “If you see something, say something,” but just as important is the ability to hear when something is wrong and act on that observation.

A woman in Mulberry, Florida, heard something in the wee hours of January 28 and ended up saving her life because she couldn’t shake the feeling that the sound was wrong.

At first, the woman thought she heard a cat fight in the woods outside the mobile home park, but after an hour the noise became constant enough that she felt compelled to investigate—and, thank God, she did.

She and her husband worked together to pinpoint the location of the sound. There, in the dark, cold forest, lay a newborn girl, wrapped in old blankets.

“At about 1:47 a.m., police found the girl wrapped in a blanket on a small hill near the Regal Loop mobile home park, just off Bailey Road,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said on its website. “She was still attached to the placenta.

“Polk County Fire and Rescue officials estimated that the girl was born about an hour before she was found, based on the baby’s body temperature.”

It was in the mid-1950s when a child was abandoned and the child could become the victim of a series of tragedies. Sheriff Grady Judd praised the couple’s intervention.

“These people are heroes,” Judd said during an interview. “Real Heroes”

“Thank God the neighbors got curious and said, ‘That scream is wrong,’ and it’s not coming from the mobile home park, but from the forest.”

“We don’t know if the baby was born in the forest or was taken to the forest after birth,” he continued.

“This is still under investigation. But, of course, we saved this man from murder charges, because if this child lay there and died, then we would be talking about a murder investigation. Now there is no”.

The infant was determined to be full-term, weighing 6 1/2 pounds, and likely Hispanic. Other than a few insect bites, she was healthy and was taken to the hospital for further observation and care.

After the baby, whom they named Angel Grace, was taken care of, the cops went door to door and used a K-9 unit, a drone, an air unit and a bloodhound to try and find the mother. So far no progress on that front.

“By the grace of God, we found the abandoned girl when we did, before exposure to the cold or any animals did her any harm,” Judd said, according to the office’s report. “She was left in a very vulnerable state, but she is a strong little girl and seems to be doing well.”

It’s a miracle for both the baby and the mother that the baby was found while she was, and the sheriff’s office took the opportunity to remind locals of the state’s Safe Haven Act, which gives parents a “way out” without the possibility of being charged.

“The Polk County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind mothers of the Florida Safe Haven Act, passed in 2000, which allows parents to leave their unharmed newborn baby (under a week of age) in any safe facility (hospitals or properly staffed ambulance/fire departments). services). Station) anonymously and without fear of prosecution,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a comment to its post.

Many commented on the story on social media, offering to take care of the child, but the sheriff’s office said that the protocol directs that the child be transferred to the care and custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families, where she will remain for the time being.

This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.

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