Dog rescued from mudflats using sausages dangled from drones

A woman in her 60s living near Farlington Marshes cooked the sausages

A beloved pet dog has finally been reunited with its family after a massive search involving police, coastguards and a pair of sausage-dangling drones.

One of the rescuers today revealed the sausages saved Millie’s life as she followed her nose and the aroma led her to higher ground away from the rising tide.

The bangers, believed to be from Aldi, were cooked up by a woman in her 60s living near Farlington Marshes and then attached by string to the drones.

Chris Taylor, Chairman of Denmead Drone Search & Rescue, explained that the sausage-dangling drones encouraged Millie to move 300 metres away from mud flats where the rising tide could have seen her trapped and drowned.

The 37-year-old said: “We had to try something, as if we hadn’t this story could have had a sad ending instead of a happy one.

“We had to come up with an idea to get her out of the danger zone, and one of the drone pilots suggested attaching some food to the drones.

“It was a crazy idea, but because Millie was hungry it worked at luring her away from the danger to higher ground which wouldn’t go underwater.

“If we hadn’t had got her away from that area the tide would have come in and she would have been at risk of drowning.

“It was something we had never tried before - the sausages were the last resort, as we couldn’t reach her by kayak or any other means.

“It was a difficult thing getting a dog to travel 300 metres over marshland with a sausage, but the great community effort saw a happy ending.”

Mr Taylor, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said local residents on a beach where they were operating drones from kindly supplied teas, coffees - and sausages to the cause.

The father-of-five, who also works as an HGV driver, added: “One of the local residents on the beach where we were flying from supplied us with the sausages - I think they were from Aldi.

“The woman cooked them up for us and we attached them to the drones with string.

“We certainly would consider using sausages again: every dog and search operation is always going to be different, but if we were ever in a similar situation again we would employ the same methods to lure the dog.”

As part of the four-day operation, desperate searchers resorted to attaching Millie’s favourite savoury snack to drones and flying them over mud flats in a bid to lure her to safety.

After she had been missing for two days Millie’s owner, Emma Oakes, was becoming increasingly worried as several sightings reported her dog running near main roads.

The extraordinary operation to locate her involved Hampshire Constabulary, the Solent Coastguard, kayakers and volunteers from Denmead Drone Search and Rescue (DDSAR).

After sightings of Millie on mud flats at Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth, DDSAR and the Coastguard were deployed with drones and kayaks to find and save the dog.

DDSAR volunteers had the innovative idea of attaching sausages to the drones in an attempt to ‘lure’ Millie to safety.

One of the volunteers, Elliot Exton, explained: “At high tide, we had two teams in a kayak try to go out to see where she was after the sighting.

“We came up with the idea to hang sausages on the drone to lure her towards the team, as it was high tide and we didn’t want to risk her drowning.

“But Millie wouldn’t cross the mud and would only stay on the grassy bits.”

Despite volunteers staying out until the early hours of Sunday morning, they were unsuccessful in luring Millie in with the savoury snacks.

Ms Oakes, a care manager, said juggling her work whilst searching for Millie had been ‘exhausting’, adding she had spent many nights worrying about her welfare.

But when Millie was finally spotted again in Havant, near Portsmouth, on Monday 17 January, Ms Oake’s father, Tony Oakes, and his border collie Jasper rushed to the scene to rescue her.

The Jack Russell ran towards the pair upon recognising them, and jumped into Mr Oakes’ arms.

A relieved Ms Oakes said: “Relief just poured over me. I’d been searching for Millie and working at the same time, I just became exhausted all of a sudden.

“It was just absolutely fantastic to have her home. When my dad rang me, I could just breath again and not have to worry everyday.

“It’s such a huge relief to finally have her home. Millie is so traumatised, bless her.

“She’s very skittish and scared of everyone who gets up close to her.”

Ms Oakes also thanked the emergency services and volunteers for their help during the search - especially the ‘fantastic’ drone team for their constant updates and maverick ideas to rescue Millie.

Mr Exton added that though it was a gruelling search for the dog, it was well worth it in the end.

He said: “We’d like to thank everyone who reported the sightings to us.

“We’re all volunteers, we don’t ask for any money, we just always want what is best for the dog.”

Solent News