A heroic Jack Russell has saved the life of a newborn baby abandoned in bushes near a park in St Petersburg, Russia.

Macho was out for a walk with his owner when he discovered the baby. He had probably heard the faint cries of the newborn, which made him investigate the matter.

After finding the baby into an undergrowth, he quickly returned and started dragging his owner toward the spot.

Fortunately, they made it in time as doctors later revealed that the tiny baby was just ‘minutes away from death’ when they brought her in.

The little girl was suffering from hypothermia and was reportedly so weak that it couldn’t even cry. She was dumped in the bushes with just a t-shirt wrapped around her.

“I felt my heart pounding when I saw the baby,” the elderly dog owner who found the baby said in an interview.

“She was waving her little legs and arms in the air, but she was silent. As doctors told me later, she must have been crying for hours.”

According to medics, the newborn weighed five pounds and was brought to them ‘just in time to save her.’ She was found to have a lack of oxygen and ‘severe hypothermia.’

“It is very unlikely she would have been noticed if not for Macho,” a spokesperson from the Russian National Guard told local media.

“This smart dog pulled his owner – very much against his will – towards a deserted area of the park.

“Deep in the bushes the man saw a little something wrapped in a t-shirt. This was the baby girl, who by then was too weak to cry.”

After five days, medics said the newborn is ‘extremely robust,’ adding that she will definitely survive.

“She is a fighter,” one nurse said.

Macho could get an award for his heroic act, according to local media. But his owner, who didn’t give his name, is still shocked by the incident.

“The whole story made me feel very upset,” he told an outlet.

Cops have now started a search for the mother of the baby, who they believe was the person to have dumped her.

“Our hearts ache for the baby and for her mother,” a nurse exclaimed.

“Whatever forced the mother to abandon her baby minutes after birth has to be changed. We can’t have situations like this.”