A family reunited with their beloved pet after she went missing for 17 days has praised the drone group who found her.
Pinky, who is two years old crossbreed, disappeared on April 23 in Ipswich while her owners were on holiday.
Pinky managed to escape under the gate of her pet sitters, in Bridgwater Road, Ipswich, and disappeared for the next 17 days.
During those long days, owners Ciaran Kelly, his wife April, their two sons, Elijah and Leo as well as the local community of Chantry were looking for her.
Ciaran said: “For those 17 days I went for a lot of walks, I knocked on a lot of doors, put up posters and got the word online.”
After a few days of Pinky being missing, her worried owner contacted the Drone SAR, a group of volunteers who help look for missing animals.
Since 2017, drone pilots and ground searchers have helped reunite 2,750 dogs back with their owners.
Graham Burton, the founder of the group, said: “Everything started when I was an admin of a number of missing dog groups, and we used to get people asking if anybody has got a drone to help look for a missing animal.
“Five years ago I set up a dedicated group for volunteer drone pilots, so if anybody needs a drone, they can come to us, and we can allocate a drone pilot. We look not only for dogs but also for other animals, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, tortoises and birds.”
Mr Burton from South Wales added: “I do it because I love dogs. Dogs are a part of the family. We’re a nation of animal lovers.”
Pinky was spotted around Chantry estate and was finally caught near Sainsbury's, in Hadleigh Road, by drone volunteers on May 9.
Ciaran said: “Pinky was pretty thin and weak when we found her. We’re lucky to get her back.”
He added: “I want to shine the light more on the Drone SAR group. Even though they’ve got a strong following on Facebook, I feel like more people need to know about them.
“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think we would have Pinky back.”
The Drones SAR group can be found on Facebook.
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