More than twenty-four hours had already passed with frigid temperatures outside.
Gina Manfredi’s five-month old puppy was lost. The American Bully mix named Shade was headed out for a walk with Gina when a sound startled the pooch and he took off into the cold New Jersey night.
Neighbors went looking for Shade but no one had any luck.
“It started getting really dark. It was cold, the winds started picking up, and (it began) lightly snowing,” Gina told NJ.com.
She placed clothes and other items outside the house that smelled like home, hoping to lure the puppy back. A friend put Gina in touch with Bailey’s Bridge, a local service that specializes in locating lost pets—but nothing worked.
More hours passed and Gina knew something drastic had to be done. Bridge to Home recommended the USAR Drone Team, a veteran-based nonprofit that provides a variety of services, including pet rescues.
Michael Parziale founded USAR in honor of his father, who was a World War II veteran. The group can use its drone technology to assist with open water rescues, dropping life preservers to people stranded at sea. From their location in Manasquan, they also field numerous calls to help with lost pets.
To help find Shade, USAR arrived at Gina’s home at about 7:15 pm, after the dog had been missing for more than 24 hours. He launched a drone equipped with a thermal camera which makes it adept at locating animals at night.
“We saw a lot of different animals for about 20 minutes because we’re near woods,” Gina said.
Then, another image appeared that seemed to resemble Shade’s profile. It was him. (Watch the video below to see the moment…)
“I start in the inner circle and work my way out,” said Michael, who has learned that lost animals typically don’t travel very far from their home. “Fortunately, he was right there.”
Miraculously, Shade was only two blocks from home—and when a family member headed to the location and called for him, the dog came running.
USAR had found Shade in just 41 minutes.
Moments later, the lost dog was headed home, and Michael called the reunion ‘cinematic’.
It was also a new record for the fastest rescue by the Jersey Shore-area drone team. The group does want to charge for its services, but never seems to reject a rescue—so it set up a GoFundMe campaign to collect tax-deductible donations further expand its operations.
And Gina hopes it’s only a matter of time before another pet—or even a person—is saved by the USAR drones.
“Michael donates his time and expertise to help those who cannot afford to hire a professional, dedicating countless volunteer hours to reuniting families with their pets,” Gina said in a Facebook post that detailed Shade’s ordeal.
“It’s a beautiful reminder of the incredible kindness that exists in the world…In a world that can sometimes feel uncertain, this experience has been a powerful reminder that there is far more good than bad.”
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