Kerries To The Rescue

Copyright Dog World, December 12, 2003

A baby is alive and well in a Liverpool hospital this week and owes his life to two show-winning Kerry BlueTerriers.

Liverpool Police are still trying to trace the mother of the new born infant found abandoned on a building site in Liverpool's Croxteth woods last Sunday.

It is thought the baby was less than an hour old when it was discovered by the two dogs which were out walking with their owner, 42-year-old Tony Muat. He is now in Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

As DOG WORLD went to press this week police had still not been able to trace the baby's mother.

Three-year-old Lescariot Magical Millie and 18-month-old Moo-moo's Madam's Joy, known as Millie and Molly - who have both qualified for Crufts - were out for their regular exercise when they discovered the baby wrapped in a bloody towel, lying in the middle of a site currently under development.

Police believe that if the dogs had not discovered the infant then he would not have been able to survive more than a few hours out in the open. Weather conditions were foul, with heavy rain and driving wind.

Baby was found

Mr Muat, who lives in the Deysbrook area of Liverpool would not normally have been walking his dogs where the baby was found but because it was a Sunday and there were no workmen on the site he took his dogs across the site and into Croxteth Park Woods.

"This is the area I used to walk the dogs all the time, but they have blocked it off while building
work.goes on," he says.

The younger of the two dogs, Mol ly, has to be watched closely asshe will take off when she sees
a squirrel, so Mr Muat was paying attention to where his dogs were.

"The weather was really bad, It was windy and the rain was really heavy and I had my jacket hood up and pulled down across my face but I saw the dogs take off when they spotted a bundle lying on the ground, so I followed them."

At first Mr Muat thought the bundle might be an abandoned litter of puppies or kittens and was worried what his dogs' reaction might be when they found them. As he got closer, though, he saw what he thought was an arm covered in blood.

"I reached down and pulled the blood-soaked towel back and was just in complete shock, I picked the baby up, held it close to me and ran with the dogs following on behind. When I got back to the house I called the police and told them what we had found."

The baby, who has been named Andrew by hospital staff, was cold to the touch and Mr Muat was afraid he may be dead but as soon as he picked him up the infant it started to cry.

Merseyside Police have paid tribute to Mr Muat and his dogs.

Andrew's umbilical cord had clearly been cut by an amateur, say the police who continue to have concerns for the well being of the mother.