U.S. Toddler Found in Cold

E A U   C L A I R E, Wis., Feb. 27 -- A toddler was hospitalized todayafter being found outside his rural home in frigid cold severalhours after his father had started a videotape for the boy and hisbrother to watch, authorities said.

Les Hynek, 2, wandered outside the house at his parents' dairyfarm sometime after 3 a.m. His father found him unconscious and notbreathing in the snow about 6:45 a.m. some 50 feet fromthe house, said Sgt. John Volger of the Eau Claire County Sheriff'sDepartment.

The boy was transported by air ambulance to the local hospital,spokeswoman Beth Blackburn said. Details were not released.

About 10:45 a.m., the boy was transferred to St. Mary's Hospitaland the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Blackburn said.There, hospital spokesman John Murphy said no information on theboy's condition would be released until Wednesday.

Comparisons to Canada's Frozen Miracle

Volger said unconfirmed reports indicated the boy's bodytemperature when he was taken to the Eau Claire hospital was 65degrees F. The outside air temperature early todaywas about zero degrees F, he said.

The father had the children with him in the barn until hefinished the milking at about 2:30 a.m., then took them into thehouse where he fell asleep as the children watched a video, Volgeradded.

The incident is strikingly similar to a case this week inEdmonton, Alberta, in which a 13-month-old girl survived severalhours outdoors in bitter cold.

Today, the girl, whose name hasn't been released, left theintensive pediatric unit to a regular hospital room, according to astaffer at the Stollery Children's Health Center in Edmonton.

Dr. Alf Conradi, director of the hospital's pediatric unit toldreporters in Edmonton that the toddler was interacting with hermother and being playful. She uttered a few words like "mom" and"down."

The baby girl, clad only in a diaper, wandered from the homewhere she had been sleeping Friday night with her mother and2-year-old sister, and was found outside at 3 a.m. Saturday.