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.