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.
Officer J.T. Kulish, of the Roanoke Police Dept. in Virginia, was cruising along in his patrol car on an off-duty assignment last week when he spotted two apparently lost dogs walking near railroad tracks.
The passenger-side window of the car was open, so Kulish whistled at the dogs. He must have been pretty surprised by what happened next.
When the two dogs turned and saw him, they both jumped into the patrol car through the open window!
According to the Safer City Roanoke Facebook page, “The trio hung out for a little bit while Officer Kulish did some research on his new-found friends and he was able to reunite them with their owner (but not before they all posed for this cool picture).”
That cool picture posted Sept. 4 is going viral, with nearly 17,000 Likes and over 4,000 shares as of Tuesday afternoon. The two dogs appear to be very happy and really seem to be enjoying the patrol car’s air conditioner (Roanoke’s daytime temperatures were in the low 90s last week).
More than 1,300 Facebook users have left comments praising Kulish’s action, and I’d like to join them. Excellent way to protect and serve, Officer Kulish!
As the temperature rose to 93 degrees the afternoon of July 25, Jeff O’Rear, an 18-year veteran of the Kansas City Police Department, and his partner, Erik Winter, responded to a call about a dog that had been left inside a car in a shopping center’s parking lot.
They had no trouble locating the car. It was surrounded by a group of people.
“Everybody around us was crying and screaming. They were upset,” O’Rear told the Kansas City Star.
When the police officers saw what the crowd was looking at, they became upset as well.
Inside the car, where the temperature had risen to 140 degrees, was a tiny, 5-month-old Chihuahua mix. He was laying on his back in his kennel, his tongue sticking out.
Surveillance videos showed the dog had been left inside the car, with the windows rolled up, for nearly two hours.
“He was just so close to death at that time — it was a very horrific picture,” O’Rear told the Kansas City Star. “That was so emotional to see that dog, to see that somebody would do that to him for no reason, just neglect.”
Using their batons, O’Rear and Winter smashed the car’s rear window and removed the dog. They rushed him over to the nearby Banfield Animal Hospital inside the shopping center’s PetSmart.
The dog’s internal temperature was 107 degrees (a dog’s normal temperature is 99.5 to 102.5 degrees). His heart rate was a rapid 200 beats per minute, far above the norm of up to 140 beats.
As he was being treated, the little dog’s temperature dropped to 94 degrees and he went into shock. But just 24 hours later, the dog was eating, drinking and on his way to a full recovery.
According to KCTV, four other dogs were rescued from hot cars that same day — tragically, two did not survive.
Even with the windows cracked open, the temperature inside a car on a warm day can quickly rise. If you see a dog inside a hot car and can’t find the owner, call 911. O’Rear told KCTV that if you break a window to save the dog, you probably won’t be cited, although the owner could slap you with a civil lawsuit.
Last month, Tennessee passed a groundbreaking law that allows anyone to break a car window if an animal is suffering inside, without being punished for their good deed. Hopefully other states will do the same.
The Chihuahua’s owners, a married couple from Carrollton, Mo., was cited with a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.
He’ll Live the ‘Life of a King’
On Wednesday, O’Rear surprised his daughters when he took them to KC Pet Project’s Zona Rosa shelter to meet their new family member: the Chihuahua he’d saved. The pup’s original owners had signed him over to O’Rear.
“The family, including grandparents, uncles and aunts, representatives from Banfield Pet Hospital at PetSmart who helped stabilize him after they pulled him from the car, the partner of the police officer, and many members of the local media were present for the fun surprise and the happy adoption,” KC Pet Project wrote on its Facebook page.
The O’Rear family has not yet named their lucky dog. “He is like a puppy, and he gets wound up,” his new dog dad told the Kansas City Star. “He likes to nap, and when he wakes up, he likes to go full speed.”
The dog has a feline playmate — a cat who O’Rear helped rescue from a sewer five years ago.
Last week, O’Rear and his fellow officers received the Compassionate Police Department Award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). It’s a sure bet this is just the first of many accolades that will be coming their way.
“I want to make sure that he lives pretty much a life of a king for the rest of his life because of what he went through,” O’Rear told KCTV. “I think we’ll be able to provide that.”
He doesn’t want to be identified, but a police officer in Kansas City, Mo., truly deserves a Compassionate Cop award.
As the officer rode his motorcycle on a U.S. 71 off-ramp yesterday morning, he saw two stray dogs — a Husky and a German Shepherd — standing in a grassy area alongside the busy freeway.
The officer contacted animal control. Then, instead of just driving off, he sat down beside the dogs, petting them and preventing them from running into traffic.
Debbie Downs happened to see the officer performing his good deed. She snapped a photo that has gone viral.
“As I pull up, it’s a motorcycle cop sitting in the cold grass with two stray — or what appears to be stray dogs, just sitting there petting them,” she told FOX 4. “It’s over and above for anyone. Most people wouldn’t look twice at some dogs running around.”
“Love this!” wrote the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, which shared the photo on its Facebook page.
The dogs were taken to KC Pet Project, a local shelter. Neither one was microchipped, and a phone number on the Husky’s tag was outdated. Fortunately, their concerned pet parents, Austin and Ashley Mozingo, had contacted local shelters after the dogs escaped from their yard Monday night. They soon were reunited with the lucky pair.
KC Pet Project spokeswoman Tori Fugate told KCTV the shelter wants the officer to be recognized for going out of his way to save the dogs.
Their pet parents are very grateful and feel the same way.
“It’s good to know there are still police officers out there who still enjoy helping out the community, especially in helping out such sweet dogs,” Austin Mozingo told FOX 4.
With so many stories in the news about trigger-happy cops shooting people — and dogs — it’s good to know that there are plenty of compassionate police officers in this country.
Two such officers are Kelly Shay and Rodger Nolan of the Columbus Police Department (CPD) in Ohio. Both of them recently went out of their ways to help puppies instead of harm them. Bravo to these heroes!
Officer Kelly Shay Saves ‘Oscar’ from Trash Can and Adopts Him
While Kelly Shay was on patrol in May, a woman flagged her down. She said she had seen a man dump a puppy in a trash can near an elementary school.
Shay pulled the puppy out of the trash. His right front leg appeared to be broken.
“Ofr. Shay took him in her arms, [and] got a rescue to cover his medical bills,” according to the Columbus Division of Police Facebook page.
Shay became the puppy’s foster mom as he recovered. She named him Oscar — after the Sesame Street resident who lives in a trash can.
“Well, we are happy to tell you after fostering him and helping him post-surgery, Ofr. Shay adopted Oscar!!!” the CPD reported Nov. 10. (Hooray for foster fails!)
Oscar “has brought so much joy to us,” Shay said, adding, “He is FINALLY backing off of chasing our cat!”
Officer Rodger Nolan Pulls Pup from Wreck and Becomes His Dog Dad
“ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER CPD OFFICER RESCUES & ADOPTS A PUPPY!” says a Columbus Division of Police Facebook page update on Nov. 21.
Earlier this month, Officer Rodger Nolan was at the scene of a bad car accident on the east side of Columbus. Trapped inside the wreckage was a 4-month-old, mixed-breed puppy. Nolan managed to pull her out to safety. For unknown reasons, the puppy’s owner decided to surrender her.
“Officer Nolan fell in love with her instantly,” according to the CPD.
Nolan later managed to talk his wife into going with him to the Franklin County Dog Shelter & Adoption Center, where the pup had been taken. There they officially became the four-legged crash survivor’s new pet parents.
The pup, who they named Camden, is already becoming BFFs with the Nolans’ other two dogs, a Great Dane named Shea and Boxer named Wrigley.
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