"When God drops a puppy from the sky, you keep it," said Elaine Bouschard, who rescued a newborn puppy after he fell from a hawk's deadly talons and into the family's yard in Los Banos, California.

The puppy's harrowing flight was witnessed by Elaine Bouschard and her grandson, Taylor Callaway. The pair were outside in her yard when they saw a tiny object plummet from the sky, with a hawk circling overhead. "All of a sudden I saw this little puppy laying there, he was almost dead," said Taylor. He cried out he saw a puppy.

"Taylor started yelling that he saw the puppy. I looked up and the hawk was just...circling around and at that point, we all just went to the puppy," said Elaine. 

They went over to the puppy and found he was still alive. The puppy had clutch marks on his body from the bird's talons. Elaine thinks the hawk may have snatched the newborn puppy from somewhere like a junkyard because he was covered in grease when they found him. 

Elaine plans to adopt the puppy, who she named TJ Heavenly. He will join her family of other animals including cats, dogs and horses. TJ has been given medicine and plenty of food. The puppy also opened his eyes for the first time.

She and her grandson don't know why the hawk dropped its prey, but they figure the puppy might have fought back. "He is so wiggly and his nose, he's a bulldozer, I could see him wiggling right out of the talons of it," Elaine said. Whatever the cause, she'll take the gift. "I actually think God just dropped me a baby to have for Mother's day, so this is my baby for Mothers Day!"

• hawk
• talons
• rescue
• Puppy
• Los Banos
• California