Pregnant Dog in Chile Nursed Malnourished Boy

It’s not all that uncommon to hear about a dog who nursed a baby from another species in order to save its life. A kitten, for instance.

But it’s highly unusual to hear about a dog breastfeeding a human, which is apparently what happened in Chile, according to the Associated Press.

A 2-year-old malnourished boy was rescued by police yesterday in the poverty-stricken desert port of Arica after Lory Escudero saw him being breastfed by her pregnant dog, Reina, at a car mechanic’s workshop.

Escudero told state television the boy’s mother was “dead drunk,” El Nuevo Herald reports.

The boy was taken to a hospital and then released to child welfare authorities, Police Capt. Diego Gajardo told the AP. He said the boy’s mother showed up intoxicated at the hospital, but was not arrested because the child was not physically harmed. (Shouldn’t starving a child be considered physical harm?)

To determine who gets custody of the little boy, a family court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.

“This is a story that gives us a lot of embarrassment,” Marcela Labraña, director of the National Service for Minors, told El Nuevo Herald. “We do not know for sure whether [being nursed by a dog] saved his life.”

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