LOWELL, Ind. -- A 9-year-old girl in northwest Indiana found an abandoned infant on Monday morning in her family's back yard, CBS Chicago reported.

Elysia Laub found the infant. She said at first she thought the baby was a piglet, because her family keeps pigs in a pen.

"It just freaked me out. I didn't know what it was," she told CBS Chicago.

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Elysia screamed for her mom, Heidi, who was incredulous.

"That's when she was like, 'Oh my god it's a baby,' and I was like, 'whaaaat?!" Elysia said.

The baby, likely less than a day old, still had placenta and umbilical cord attached.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich is grateful for the child's discovery.

"We're considering her the guardian angel of that infant," he said.

"I didn't do this myself. Somebody helped me," Elysia said. "God. He put me in that place."

The baby suffered from sun exposure, but is expected to be okay.

Initial investigation indicates that the newborn was at that location no more than a day.

The newborn was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital for emergency medical treatment.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Lake County Sheriff's Department.