Dog drone rescue: watch as Millie is rescued from mudflats by following a sausage dangling from a drone

The rescuers said: “We had 6 oz to play with, so we attached a 2 oz sausage to the drone.”

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A dog has been rescued from mudflats after a team of rescuers came up with a brilliant idea: attach a sausage to a drone.

Millie the jack russell-whippet got stranded on mudflats off the Hampshire coast and was in danger of being swept away by rising tides.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Denmead Drone Search & Rescue team couldn’t reach her by kayak so decided to see if they could tempt her to higher ground.

Photo: Denmead Drone Search & RescuePhoto: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue
Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue

The rescuers came up with an ingenious idea: attaching a sausage to a drone in the hope the scent would lure her to safety.

It worked perfectly as Millie followed the sausage to higher ground and has now been reunited with her owner.

Millie follows the dangling sausage (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)Millie follows the dangling sausage (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)
Millie follows the dangling sausage (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)

In a post on their Facebook page, the heroic rescuers wrote: “Millie has been to the vets, and is completely fine. Lots of TLC, and rest only thing prescribed.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Describing the rescue, they added: “After employing the expertise of some locals, we were told if Millie wasn't moved with in a few hours she would have been cut off, and the area she was in underwater, with drowning highly likely.

“We had to think fast, one of our fully qualified drone pilots, suggested attaching food to the drone, to try and lure her out of the danger area.

“After checking CAA regulations, and the MTOW of the drone we had 6 oz to play with, so we attached a 2 oz sausage to the drone.

“We did a risk assessment on the area, and then flew the drone out to her.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We didn't think it would work, but it did. We managed to lure Millie 300m over into a safety zone. Luckily she stayed in that area so we had prevented her from possibly drowning.”

Millie is now safe and well after following the sausage to safety (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)Millie is now safe and well after following the sausage to safety (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)
Millie is now safe and well after following the sausage to safety (Photo: Denmead Drone Search & Rescue)

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our email newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.