The girl initially thought the baby was a piglet, as her family keeps pigs on the land.
A little girl made a shocking discovery when she came across a newborn infant left in the backyard of her family’s Indiana home, authorities said.
The 9-year-old was playing outside her Lowell house when she came across a baby girl wrapped in a black towel with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached at about 11 a.m. Monday, police said.
The little girl, identified as CBS Chicago as Elysia Laub, at first thought the cries she heard were that of a piglet, as her family keeps pigs on their land.
"It just freaked me out, I didn't know what it was," Elysia told the television station.
Read: Newborn with Umbilical Cord Still Attached Abandoned in Nativity Scene
She ran to get her mother, who brought the baby inside and called police.
The infant was taken to a local hospital with sun exposure, but is expected to make a full recovery.
"That 9-year-old child is truly, that found this infant, is a guardian angel for that infant,” Lake County Sheriff John Buncich told reporters.
Read: Newborn Baby Girl is Found Buried Alive Near the LA River
“Had she not gone into that yard to play... tragic results... could have occurred,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how long the newborn was outside, as investigators believe she may have been in that location between several hours and one day.
Officials are trying to locate the child’s mother.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Department Report-A-Crime Hotline at 1-800-750-2746.
Watch: Adoptive Mom Abandons Baby In Hospital After Being Born with Rare Condition
