We all know that feeling of wanting to do anything to save our beloved pets when they’re in danger. This feeling of urgency was no different when Millie, a Jack Russell-whippet cross, found herself stranded on the mudflats in Havant, Hampshire. It took a remarkable team effort from the police, firefighters, and coastguards to rescue her.

After slipping her owner’s lead, Millie went missing. Frantic public appeals were made, and eventually, she was spotted on the dangerous mudflats – where the rapidly rising tide posed a serious threat. Despite all their efforts, Millie stubbornly remained stuck in place. That is when a brilliant idea emerged from one member of the rescue team: attaching a sausage to one of the drones that had been used to track her.

In a Facebook post by the Denmead Drone Search and Rescue team, they shared their innovative plan: “After seeking advice from locals, we were informed that if Millie wasn’t moved within a few hours, she would have been cut off, with the area she was in soon underwater, making drowning highly likely. We had to act quickly. One of our qualified drone pilots suggested attaching some food to the drone to entice her out of the danger zone. We attached a 2 oz sausage to the drone.”

To everyone’s surprise, the sausage trick worked like a charm. Millie was lured away from the treacherous mudflats and safely back onto dry land. The Facebook post joyfully continued, “We never believed it would work, but it did. We successfully guided Millie 300m to a safety zone. Thankfully, she stayed there, thereby preventing her from the possibility of drowning.”

Although the sausage trick succeeded, Millie managed to make a daring escape once again and had to be tracked a second time before being reunited with her owner, Emma Oakes. Emma expressed her immense relief, saying, “Relief just poured over me. It was absolutely fantastic to have her home again. Millie really likes food, and she’ll eat anything you give her – raw carrots, cucumber – but she absolutely loves sausages. Meat is her favorite food, so dangling a sausage was probably the best bait they could have used.”

Chris Taylor, the chair of the Denmead Drone Search and Rescue team, explained that using sausages as bait was a “last resort” but one they will now consider in similar situations in the future. He added, “If we hadn’t managed to move Millie away from that area, the tide would have come in, putting her at risk of drowning. It was a method we had never tried before, and the sausages were a desperate attempt since we couldn’t reach her by kayak or any other means. However, it worked wonders since Millie was hungry and was lured away to higher ground.”

Millie’s incredible rescue showcases the dedication and creativity of rescue teams during critical situations. Each dog and search operation is unique, but if they ever find themselves in a similar situation again, they will not hesitate to employ the same sausage-savoring trick.

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