MADERA, Calif. -- A newborn girl with her umbilical cord still attached was found by a newspaper carrier in the middle of a rural road before dawn in near-freezing temperatures.

Authorities are seeking the mother.

Sheriff's officials say a man walking around 4:30 a.m. Monday was approached by a woman in a white SUV who asked him to take her baby. He refused and suggested she take the newborn to a fire station or hospital.

KFSN-TV reports the hours-old baby was wearing only a onesie when the newspaper carrier, Aurelio Fuentes, found her a short time later on the centre line of the road in Madera County in Central California.

Fuentes told the Fresno Bee her umbilical cord was still attached.