A beloved dog has been reunited with her owner because of a dramatic drone rescue operation after the pup ran off into a large rapeseed field and became tangled and trapped in the shrubbery for 36, lengthy hours. The owner, Dame Yvonne Moores, 81, lost all hope after her 20-month-old pet broke free from the lead during her walk in Hordle in Hampshire.
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The former Chief Nursing Officer described the worrying moments after she lost Maisie. Ms Moores said: “I called her back but the rape was so very tall so we couldn’t see her and it turned out the rape had become twisted around her lead and she was trapped right in the middle of the field.”
She added: “We tried appealing for tracker dogs but nobody would let them go into the rape.”
Ms Moores and her husband put out a plea on a local Facebook page for help from someone with a drone to see if the technology could help them find the beloved animal. Within just a couple of hours, an “amazing” family had offered to help.
Businessman, Mr Mullen’s wife had seen the post, and together with their seven-year-old daughter, Ivy, they tried to locate the pet.
Mr Mullen said: “I went out for about half an hour, but it was really windy and the battery ran out so we had to go home, charge it and went straight back out. It was about 8pm and we were losing the light.”
He added: “My daughter could hear the faintest of bark, and then looking at the screen we spotted a section of the field which was trampled down.”
Maisie was found trapped in “treacherous” conditions, with the search party untangling the plant from around her legs as they waded in to retrieve her.
Ms Moores expressed her delight when her pet was found and said: “She would have certainly died without social media, new technology and a wonderful family who had a drone.”
The family who used the drone described the tall rapeseed which was “shoulder-high” and claimed it was “brilliant to have a happy ending”.
Ms Moores was relieved after finding her pet and added Maisie “knew how to get home” as soon as they released her.
