A volunteer search and rescue group in Sheffield has helped to reunite a missing dog with its owner thanks to the use of a thermal imaging drone.
Alfie, a Bedlington Whippet who is around 10 years old, was rescued after a three-day search by K9-SAR, a specialist search and rescue team.
Having gone missing from Westwood Country Park in High Green, the dog was eventually discovered some 10 miles away in a field in Elsecar on the other side of the M1 motorway.
His owner, Yvonne Stephenson, 69, from Chapeltown, said: “I still feel a bit sick thinking about it but it is just so wonderful to have him back.
“I could barely sleep knowing my poor dog who is frightened of the dark was out there somewhere and I had no idea where.”
Alfie ran away on Wednesday 5 March after being spooked by a bicycle and was not found until Friday evening when a sighting from a farmer helped K9-SAR to locate him with their drone.
Owner and dog were reunited when Mrs Stephenson attracted Alfie’s attention by singing him a lullaby and surrounding herself with recognisable scents including her husband’s old shoes.
Once back at home, Alfie was checked by the vets but other than tiredness and sore feet, the dog has escaped from his ordeal unscathed.
Mrs Stephenson said: “I just can’t thank everyone who helped enough. They were so patient and optimistic that we would find him.
“It meant so much to know that somebody else was helping to find him and that I wasn’t doing it alone.”
K9-SAR have carried out over 70 search and rescue operations for missing dogs since 2022 and they are now fundraising for a new drone.
Fraser Macdonald, 27, the drone pilot who led the search for Alfie, said: “The drones are critical and effectively increase the chances of finding a dog by 100% because they enable us to search in the darkness as well as in daylight.
“There’s been a massive increase after covid and we are now getting two to three reports of missing dogs everyday but unfortunately we only have so many volunteers and resources so we are really stretched.”
Donations to K9-SAR can be made through their GoFundMe page here.
Pictures by Caryl Jowett and Yvonne Stephenson.
