Former police officer Phil James from Nottingham, England, is using his drone skills to help reunite missing dogs with their owners. In 2020, James used his drone to help find a Springer Spaniel that had been missing for three days and he realized that there was a wider need for a service like that. So he started the search and rescue nonprofit Drone to Home to help people find their missing pets.
At first, Drone to Home was a one-man operation, but in 2021, it became clear to James that he would need help, so he started networking and soon built an army of volunteers to help search for missing pets and spread the word on social media. James estimates that in the last three years, they’ve helped more than 1,400 dog owners to be reunited with their beloved pets and they currently search for and reunite more than 40 dogs a month.
Drone to Home has grown beyond anything James could have dreamed of and he’s using his platform for more than finding missing pets. He provides education to pet owners to help prevent pets from going missing or being stolen and he also offers courses on how to use drones. His future goal for Drone to Home is to raise enough money to buy a thermal drone and he hopes one day they can have a pet-finding drone operation in every county in England.
Source: Insider