Stray dog rescues abandoned baby thrown in trash heap in Lebanon

A stray dog emerged a hero after it discovered an abandoned baby in the trash and rescued her, carrying the bruised little one in its mouth in the northern Lebanon city of Tripoli until a passerby heard her cries.

According to The National, after a passerby heard the baby crying and discovered the dog, the anonymous person rushed the baby to the Islamic Hospital. She was transferred to the Tripoli Government Hospital later, where she was pronounced in serious but stable condition.

Conflicting reports said the baby was of different ages, but Arab News said that it had learned the baby is “believed to be only a few hours old.”

Arab News added a comment from Ghassan Rifi, a Tripoli journalist who was stunned, saying he “had never seen an incident as disturbing as this in the city during his career.”

Rifi added, “Usually when someone wants to give up their kids, they place them in front of an orphanage or a police station. However, this baby was dumped in an area that is considered very dangerous at night, as a lot of stray dogs can be found. The municipality had previously tried to poison these dogs but animal welfare organizations refused and called for their protection.”

The Al-Tal neighborhood, near where the baby girl was dumped, is not a residential area, Abdulrahman Darwish, a representative in Tripoli of the Union of Relief and Development Associations, told Arab News. Darwish added, “I also don’t think that what happened is the result of the dire economic situation, as everyone is suffering from the crisis but no one has ever dumped their newborn on a street full of stray dogs.”

In the United States, each state has implemented safe haven laws in an attempt to curtail infant abandonment cases like this one. These laws allow a parent to surrender their child at an appropriate facility, like a hospital or fire station, within a certain period of time after birth. More information about safe haven laws can be found here.