Police Officer Uses Drone to Find Dog Lost in Woods

While drones may be generally regarded as an annoyance rather than an asset, they can actually serve some very positive purposes (like saving endangered whales, for instance). In Pennsylvania over the weekend, Upper Gwynedd Township Police Officer Yin Young found another great way to use an unmanned aircraft: to find a young dog lost in the woods.

After Kasi, a 10-month-old German Shepherd, escaped from her yard Saturday, her dog dad, George Burns, tried to find her on foot, according to the Upper Gwynedd Township Police Facebook page.

When that didn’t work, Burns got the attention of Officer Young, who came up with the idea of attaching a high-definition video camera to his personal drone. He sent it flying over the nearby woods.

It took only about 20 minutes for the drone to find Kasi. She and Burns were happily reunited soon afterward.

“It was a good idea,” Sergeant John Brinkman told NBC10. “We don’t want the owner to get hurt unnecessarily looking for the dog.”

In the near future, this good idea might be used more often by the police department to locate missing pets as well as people. “It’s all about keeping people safe,” Brinkman said.

Photo via Facebook