It takes a village — and a sausage.
Millie, a stranded jack russell-whippet cross, is safe and sound with her owner, Emma Oakes, after multiple British police, firefighters and coastguards banded together and saved the pooch from mudflats in England using a drone and a sausage, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The little rescued dog, who was being tracked by drones, went missing after escaping her leash in Havant, Hampshire, about 71 miles southwest of London, and was at risk of drowning in the tide as authorities struggled to lure her to safety, according to the outlet.
Her rescue can be credited to a drone pilot who thought that attaching sausage to the device could help guide the pup, according to the paper.
“It was a crazy idea,” Chris Taylor, chair of the Denmead Drone Search and Rescue team, told The Guardian. “One of the local residents on the beach where we were flying from supplied us with the sausages — I think they were from [supermarket] Aldi. The woman cooked them up for us and we attached them with string.”
Had the “last resort” not worked for the hungry Millie, she might have drowned “as we couldn’t reach her by kayak or any other means,” said Taylor. “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.”
After “quite timid” Millie’s rescue, Oakes said, “Relief just poured over me. ... She loves being at home more than anything and now she’s back all she’s doing is sleeping.”
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