MULBERRY, Fla. – Florida authorities found a newborn girl wrapped in a blanket and still attached to a placenta on a hill outside a trailer park early Saturday morning.
Polk County deputies responding to a call about a baby crying outside near Mulberry, east of Tampa, found the girl about an hour after she was born, the sheriff's office said in a news release. The temperature was in the low 50s (about 11 degrees Celsius).
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Polk County medical workers took the baby to a hospital, where she was healthy and stable, according to the sheriff's office.
“It was by the grace of God that we found the abandoned baby girl when we did, before exposure to the cold or any animals caused her any harm. She was left in an extremely vulnerable condition, but she’s a strong little girl, and it looks like she’s doing great,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.
Deputies used a K-9 unit, a drone and bloodhound to try to find the mother, but were unsuccessful.
Florida has a safe haven law that allows parents to leave newborns at a fire station or medical facility up to a week after birth.