Police in Saskatchewan are looking for the mother of an infant who was born and later abandoned in a Wal-Mart washroom.
Sgt. Rhonda Meakin of the Prince Albert Police Service said authorities are investigating the incident and are concerned for the mother's wellbeing.
"She would have given birth to this child and is in need of medical attention. We would like to ensure that she is OK," Meakin told CTV Saskatoon.
The infant was born on Monday afternoon and found by Wal-Mart staff in a washroom stall around 5 p.m.
"It was definitely a discovery you don't expect to see when you walk into a washroom,'' store manager Chad Fraser, who was the first person to tend to the infant, told the Prince Albert Herald.
"I cleaned out his mouth and massaged his chest and did what I could to resuscitate him and keep him alive until Parkland Ambulance showed up a couple of minutes later,'' Fraser said.
Staff handed the child over to paramedics who rushed him to Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert.
"Upon arrival, they (paramedics) were presented with a newborn baby, who wasn't doing so well at the initial stages," Lyle Karasiuk, a spokesperson from the Prince Albert Parkland Ambulance, told Â鶹´«Ã½.
The infant was later airlifted to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon by neonatal intensive care staff.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Karasiuk said the infant was in serious but stable condition.
It is the second time a newborn baby has been abandoned in Saskatchewan in the past four months.
In February, Ed and Lee Anderson found a newborn baby girl wrapped in a towel and a blanket outside their Saskatoon home on a day when the wind chill dropped to -39C.
The child's mother turned herself in to police and no charges were laid under an agreement that the mother seek counselling.
Justice Minister Frank Quennell said Tuesday that something needs to change in the province but the government has stopped short of considering a safe abandonment law.
Under the law, mothers of unwanted newborns can drop their babies off at predetermined locations without running the risk of prosecution.
Prince Albert police are urging anyone with information on the mother to contact police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 222-8477.
With a report from CTV Saskatoon
