Stray dogs save abandoned baby
By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi
Last Updated: 1:54am BST 23/04/2008
A pack of stray dogs have been credited with saving the life of a newborn girl in India after they found her abandoned by her mother under a pile of mud in a remote village.
Residents of Samastipur, in the eastern Bihar state, found the girl at the weekend after they saw three dogs barking furiously at a mound of mud under which she was buried.
"The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew attention of the local villagers," said Ram Narayan Sahani, a senior district official.
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The child has been adopted by a couple in the area. Police have been looking for the girl's mother, who they believe had left the girl to die.
Female foeticide, though illegal in India, is widespread as boys are traditionally preferred to girls as breadwinners and families have to pay huge dowries to marry off their daughters.
According to the Lancet, over 10 million girls across India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection over the past 20 years.
Researchers for the medical journal said selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year in the country.
The sex ratio is so skewed in several states that men cannot find brides and have to look for them in other provinces, causing knock-on social problems.
Stray dogs save abandoned baby - Telegraph