A newborn baby was found in the woods just off a bike path in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Ted Rutherford was out walking his dog in July 2021 at around 5:45 p.m. when he heard what sounded like a wounded animal. But when he moved closer, he found that it was a human child who had been abandoned.
It was immediately clear that the baby had only just been born. "The placenta and all the, you know, the fluids and all were in like a grocery bag, a little plastic bag, and it was tied up around the umbilical cord," said Rutherford.
He then alerted a neighbor who was outside watering his plants. The men tried to get the baby out of the brush, but she was surrounded by sticker bushes and lying upside down.
They called 911, and minutes later, Anne Arundel County police officers came and were able to remove the baby from under the brush. She was taken to a nearby hospital to receive treatment.
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It's hard to imagine what the mother of this child must've been going through to leave her baby in the woods. Luckily, police were able to identify the child's mother the very next day. She has received medical treatment and has been given crisis intervention resources.
All 50 states now have safe haven laws, which vary state to state. But in Maryland, a mother can drop off a baby in a safe location, like a police station or a hospital, without being criminally charged. As of now, it's unclear what will happen to the mother who abandoned her child in the woods.
Amazingly, the child is reportedly healthy and doing well, suffering only minor injuries from the sticker bushes she was left in.
