CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. — A couple is grateful to have their dog back after being missing for nearly a week. And it’s all thanks to the use of a thermal drone.
The dog’s owners say Charlie went missing one week ago on Monday after being let out on a foggy morning in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
The couple says they spent days trying to find him until they got help from one group using thermal technology.
A thermal drone scanned the family’s neighborhood in search of the missing pet.
Then suddenly, blue and green images turned clear.
“Oh my God! Got him! Yes, we got him! We got him!” one of the rescuers said.
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Video captured the moment 2-year-old Charlie was found Sunday, just a mere two-minute walk from home.
“And, he was in this, kind of, park, walking trail area off in some tall grass and broken-down trees. And, he was hiding there,” said Kate Belmonte, Charlie’s owner.
Belmonte and her fiancé, David Nowak, said that with the help of Dog Gone Pet Recovery, a local search and rescue group, they were finally reunited with their canine best friend.
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Though, he was badly hurt. Charlie was taken to a veterinary hospital with a broken femur.
The couple is thankful for Charlie’s will to survive in the cold for nearly a week and for the group’s days-long effort to find him.
“It’s just unbelievable technology, and pretty much without this, to be honest with you, I don’t know we would’ve been able to find him,” Nowak said.
Charlie’s owners said he is still at the hospital, recovering after surgery on Monday, but will be back home on Tuesday — where he can be warm and cozy with the couple and their other two dogs.
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