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Colorado sheriff's office uses drone training to help locate missing dog

fcso dog found.jpg
Posted at 2:58 PM, Sep 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-09-14 14:58:25-04

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. — As fate would have it, authorities in Colorado were able to reunite a dog who'd been missing for months with its family with the help of a drone.

The Fremont County Sheriff's Office said a golden retriever went missing when the car she was in crashed.

ABC affiliate KRDO reported that Farrah disappeared three months ago. Still, her owner knew she was alive because she'd been spotted on surveillance video drinking water, but no one was able to capture her.

That's when a dispatcher with the sheriff's office got an idea: she knew the department's unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) team was planning to use their drone for a training mission in the area the dog was last seen, the news station reported.

So, the team went out on Sunday, the department said in a Facebook post, and within minutes, the drone's infrared camera spotted the dog.

"A short time later, Farrah was reunited with her family," the department said. "She is safely on her way home, and the UAS team was able to practice some very valuable search and rescue techniques with our drone!"