a little east of reality

Friday, April 14, 2006

I want a cat like this!

This is a cool story.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A cat saved the life of a newborn baby abandoned on the doorstep of a Cologne house in the middle of the night by meowing loudly until someone woke up, a police spokesman said Saturday.

"The cat is a hero," Cologne police spokesman Uwe Beier said. "Its loud meowing got the attention of the homeowner and saved the baby from suffering life-threatening hypothermia. The homeowner opened door to see why the cat was making so much noise and discovered the newborn."

Beier said the boy was taken to hospital at 5 a.m. on Thursday, when overnight temperatures fell toward zero, and had suffered only mild hypothermia. He said there was no indication of what happened to the boy's mother.

Can you imagine if the poor homeowner had ignored the cat and opened the door later to find the little baby dead from hypothermia? Terrible thought.

I'm also kind of jealous. When people are looking for a doorstep to leave a baby on, why don't they ever pick mine? Seems a rather easy way to get one. According to this article, around one baby per week is left this way in the UK. When I think of all the couples trying so hard to adopt. I would definitely keep one if Family Services would let me. Do you think it holds any weight that the parents picked your door, or would they just take it away anyway? I can't imagine what makes someone leave their baby like that - not to merely give it up for adoption, but to actually feel so desperate they just put it on someone's step and run away.