Growing East Midlands charity Drone to Home reunites thousands of missing dogs with owners
After four years, the UK’s first dedicated drone charity that searches for dogs has reunited nearly 2,000 canines with their owners.
Drone to Home, based in the East Midlands, was founded by CEO Phil James who at first, self-funded the work to try and help search for dogs.
As the demand grew, Drone to Home became a registered charity and continues to grow.
“I was a hobbyist drone flyer and I used to love taking photos from the air”, said Phil.
He added: “When a dog went missing in Calverton, I got asked to go and help and with the drone, I found the dog.
“From there, I got another call and just got really good at it, and it’s grown into what it is today.”
In and around Grantham, several people have raised money for the charity through various fundraising ideas.
Paul Hollingworth, co-owner of Tiddle Time Dog Walking and Sitting Services in Grantham, raised £700 last month for the charity after completing a skydive.
Georgia Rae Laidlaw Brown, from Bottesford, also set out to run 10k in May for the charity.
Since the charity was established, it has helped to reunite 1,994 missing dogs with their owners.
On average, the charity receives 40 calls a day.
Phil added: “We’ve even got a virtual call centre now because of the amount of calls we get.
“Even though we are a small team based in the East Midlands, we can help people over the phone with advice and education.
“We’ve got about 10 people who answer the telephones and the majority of those people are retired.
“So, it’s really nice because they say they’re retired and they are a bit bored, they are animal lovers and they want to get involved and help. It works really well.”
There is also a dedicated drone team who have expertise in operating the devices.
All volunteers and staff who work for the charity are provided with training as there has to be “training involved to know what to look for”, said Phil.
Phil added: “What people also don’t understand is dogs can go feral within minutes of going missing.
“So, one of the hardest jobs is explaining to owners if their dog has gone feral, it won’t recognise them when they first see them.”
This means dogs go into survival mode, where they go back to their survival instincts and focus on getting food, water and defending themselves.
As a result, sometimes when they are reunited with their owners they do not remember and Drone to Home has to show the owner how they can “bring their pet back”, added Phil.
The longest it has taken for a pet to get back to its “domestic way” has taken one hour and 35 minutes, and the shortest it has taken is 10 minutes.
Drone to Home also has 15 business sponsors and only three weeks ago Coptrz - leading commercial drone experts - became a sponsor.
The company donated nine drones to the charity which puts them “18 months ahead”, said Phil.
The charity’s slogan is “we don’t judge, we just reunite”, so when a dog goes missing the charity “doesn’t judge” and it doesn’t have “negativity at all”, said Phil.
He added: “In this job, you need a never give up attitude. We’ve known dogs go missing for six weeks and we’ve still found them.
“You do need a lot of patience and you need to be sort of dynamic in your thinking because things change really quickly with dogs, so you need time to adapt to that.
“In the early stages, I was quite emotionally involved, but now I get ecstatic and happy and since, I have tried to keep a balance on that.”
Looking to the future, Phil hopes that Drone to Home can continue to expand.
He said: “The vision is to have a drone operator vehicle in every county. But obviously, that comes down to funding.
“We won’t run before we can walk, we’re doing things properly.
“I don’t want to lose the quality. You can go too big too soon and it becomes about quantity, then you lose the empathy and the personal touch, which we don’t want.
“That’s what we’ve gained with the lovely followers we have today.
“They like the aftercare. It’s these little things that other organisations don’t have.”
For more information on Drone to Home and its work, go to https://dronetohome.co.uk/.
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