Police are searching for the parents of an infant who was apparently abandoned behind a Halifax building on Sunday. 

Halifax police say two people found a baby girl wrapped in a blanket on the back steps of a building in the 6000 block of Quinpool Road Sunday afternoon.Police are now frantically searching for her parents and say they are also concerned about the well-being of the baby’s mother.

The baby, described as African Canadian, was taken to a hospital, where doctors estimated that she is about four to five weeks old. The infant was deemed to be healthy.

Kerry McNutt, who owns a business across the street from where the baby was found, witnessed the commotion after the shocking discovery.

“We noticed that the Halifax Regional Police had pulled up,” McNutt told CTV Atlantic. “The officer was concerned. She ran across the street and looked like she was in a bit of a panic.”

After several more police cars arrived on the scene, McNutt said he saw officers taking away a baby carrier with an infant inside.

Two women who say they found the baby told CTV Atlantic that she was wearing only a diaper and a onesie and that there were dirty blankets nearby.

Police are now appealing to the baby’s parents to contact them.

“I just think it would be the right thing to do to come forward,” Const. Dianne Penfound told CTV Atlantic.

“I don’t know what the circumstances are, but (we want) to find out why they felt that leaving the child where they did was the right thing to do and we’ll go from there.”

The baby is now in the care of the Nova Scotia Community Service Department. Under the Children and Family Services Act, the province can place an abandoned child in foster care for 72 hours before the case must be brought before a court.

If the baby’s parents or a relative are found, the department must determine if it is safe for the infant to be placed in their care.

Wendy Bungay, the Community Service Department's director of placement services, told The Canadian Press that it’s “extremely unusual” for babies to be abandoned on the streets in Nova Scotia.

She said she has never heard of a similar case during her 20-plus years with the department.

With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundhal and files from The Canadian Press