An abandoned newborn baby was saved from freezing to death by the unlikeliest of hero - a stray cat.
The
tabby named Marsha climbed into the box the infant had been dumped in
and kept the child warm for several hours as the mercury plunged below
zero.
Residents
in the block of flats found the unusual surrogate curled around the
freezing boy and licking his face after being alerted by his cries.
'The baby
had only been outside for a few hours and thanks to Masha … he was not
damaged by the experience,' a hospital spokesman told Central European
News.
Nadezhda Makhovikova, who lives in the flats in Obninsk in the Kaluga region of Russia, told REN TV she ventured into the stairwell after hearing what sounded like a cat meowing in distress.
'When I went down, I saw it was the baby crying,' she said.
Mothering Marsha ran after paramedics as they took the tiny baby to the ambulance, it was reported.
Vera Ivanina, a paramedic, told REN TV: 'She was so worried about where we were taking the baby.
'She ran right behind us, meowing. She was really a rational creature.'
The baby, a boy aged between two to three months, was taken to hospital where he was checked over by medics.
The
infant, who was found in clean clothes and with a pack of nappies, was
declared fit and healthy, despite her hours in the cold.
Marsha has since been spoiled rotten with food by the residents in the block of flats.
Police have launched a search for the parents while the baby is being cared for in a hospital.
