Dog Keeps Barking At A Storm Drain, Owner Hears Crying Coming From Inside

Charmaine Keevy is a 63-year-old resident of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. And a while ago, she rescued a Dachshund named Georgie. While on a walk one day, Georgie was able to pay it forward and do a good deed of his own, and now he’s being hailed a hero.

When Georgie focused on and started barking at a storm drain, it perplexed Charmaine. She started listening closely to see if anything was the matter, and she thought she heard faint meows coming from inside. The woman flagged down a car for help, and that’s where Cornie Viljoen came into the picture.

They used a steel bar to pry open the concrete slab covering the drain six feet below. And that’s when they saw a human baby. Cornie jumped in without hesitation and ended up getting stung by red ants.

“When I got into the hole it was higher than my head and it was so narrow that I had to go down on my knees and I couldn’t bend over so had to feel down for the baby below,” he told DailyMail. “The red ants were stinging my legs but then I felt this baby’s leg and then saw the baby and I realized that this was a crime scene so I took a flash picture and handed my phone up to Charmaine. I didn’t know if the baby was injured so I tried to pick her up very carefully and very slowly and she was so small. I just wanted to hold her for a while but I knew that she needed urgent medical help.”

Thankfully, the ants hadn’t gotten to the baby who was lying there naked with her umbilical cord still attached. Cornie and Charmaine called the police, and an ambulance and cops arrived to take the baby to the hospital.

Because of the heavy concrete slab covering the drain, the police say the only way the baby could’ve gotten down there was for someone to place her there. It was most definitely an abandonment situation.

“There is a possibility that the person who did this may have come from outside the area and placed the child there. We are appealing for witnesses and the mother of this baby to come forward,” police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said.

The baby was treated at the hospital for hypothermia and respiratory issues. Nurses estimated the child had been in the freezing drain water for a few hours at least.

Charmaine usually takes Georgie on a different walking route, so she believed it was fate that led them to the baby. Charmaine made a Facebook post to let everyone know that Grace April was doing just fine. 🙂

It’s truly a miracle! Thanks to Georgie, Charmaine, and Cornie, Grace April is alive and well.

h/t I Love My Dog So Much