Police Officer Breastfeeds Infant Girl Abandoned in Undergrowth While Waiting for an Ambulance

An infant, who had been abandoned in a forest, was saved by two Good Samaritans who were quick to act. One of them was an older woman who reached out to the authorities, while the other was a lady who took action, saving the child's life. Here are the details.

Childbirth is a sacred phenomenon, but it has been abused like everything else concerning humans. These days people have kids and hide them away to avoid taking responsibility, and sometimes, they simply cannot take on another mouth to feed.

Perhaps that is why the parents of this young infant chose to abandon her on a roadside in the village of Santa Marta in La Marina, municipality of Tulua, Valle Del Cauca. The child was wrapped in towels and was first mistaken for a cat by the 59-year-old woman who heard her cries.

BABY FOUND IN THE FOREST

Edinora Jimenez had been out in the forest picking oranges on the day she found the abandoned infant in 2016. Her attention was drawn to the child when she first heard its cries, but it had been hidden in the undergrowth, so at first, she thought it was a feline.

It was not until Jimenez got closer that she realized it was a little baby girl and not a cat as she had initially thought. She was shocked, but the older woman quickly gathered her wits and reached out to the police in hopes that they would get the child, who still had her umbilical cord attached, to a hospital.

COP SAVED THE ABANDONED INFANT

One of the cops who responded to the call had only just welcomed a child herself, and it may have been fate because if it had been someone else, the child might have lost her life. Indeed, while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, the cop named Luisa Urrea decided to take matters into her own hands.

As a mom, she was able to tap into her maternal instincts, which told her what the child required was nourishment. Fortunately, she was a lactating mom, and helping out the young kid was as simple as breathing.

THE VIRAL VIDEO

Video footage that captured a concerned Urrea breastfeeding the infant was shared on YouTube and has since gone viral. Netizens praised her for her selflessness and quick thinking because, without it, the child would have succumbed to starvation and hypothermia.

Speaking about it, Urrea told the media: "I'm a new mother, and I have milk, and I recognized the needs that this poor little creature had. I think any woman would have given her nourishment in the same circumstances."

THE CHILD RECEIVED TREATMENT

When the ambulance finally arrived, they rushed the child to the Tomas Uribe Hospital in the city of Tulua. Upon observation, doctors revealed how important Urrea's administration had been.

According to Colonel Javier Martin, commander of the Valle del Cauca Police, the child had some lacerations, and she had been suffering from hypothermia, but her health stabilized with some treatment.

The infant continued to receive care from officials of the Children and Adolescents group of the Tulua Police. They were operating via a protection program while the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare handled custody of the child.

The fact that the child still had her umbilical cord attached implied that it had only been hours since she was born. After stabilizing her health, police and health officials searched for her parents to bring them to justice for their blatant disregard for life.

At the time, some even predicted that the child's mother might face attempted murder charges. The orphanage director Jhon Arley Murillo had this to say:

"We could be dealing with a case of attempted homicide, although it's the prosecutor who will decide the charge."

Meanwhile, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare continued to care for the child while trying to find a suitable adoptive home for her. Hopefully, they were able to find a willing family to take her in because no child deserves to grow up knowing that her parents didn't want her.

Childbirth is a sacred ritual that ensures the survival of the human population and should be treated as such. Unfortunately, more and more kids have been born and abandoned over the years, but hopefully, that will change in the coming future.