Lost pets & livestock

Thermal drone search for a missing animal

A thermal camera reads body heat against cooler ground. It covers in an hour what a search party covers in a night — fields, brush, treelines and creek bottoms that people walk straight past. Dogs, cats, horses, cattle and goats, across South Central Kentucky.

Call/Text 270-681-0756

Read this before you hire anybody

Lost pets are a scam target. Including by people with drones.

When an animal goes missing, people are frightened and will pay almost anything, and there are people who know that. The common version: somebody contacts you claiming to have found your dog, or offers a drone search, and asks you to send money before anything happens. Then they are gone.

Nobody should be asking you to wire money, send a gift card, or pay through an app before they have ever met you. Not me, not anybody. I take payment on arrival, in person, before the aircraft goes up — the same as every other service I run. If someone is pressing you for money up front over the phone or through a Facebook message, that is your answer.

Check anyone you hire. A Part 107 certificate number can be verified. A local business can be looked up. If you call me and I am not the right person for your situation, I will say so and tell you who to ring instead — frequently that is a scent-tracking handler rather than a drone.

What actually happens

Find it, confirm it, walk you in.

We talk first. Breed and size, temperament, whether the animal is friendly with strangers or likely to bolt, where and when it was last seen, whether it is collared or chipped. A shy rescue and a confident farm dog hide in completely different places, and that shapes the whole flight plan.
Systematic search, not a wander. The aircraft flies a pattern across the ground we agreed on, at a height that does not spook anything. Thermal picks up warm bodies; the zoom camera confirms whether it is your animal or a deer, a coyote or somebody's cat.
You get a position, not a chase. Once your animal is located the drone backs off. I give you coordinates and talk you in, because a frightened dog comes to a familiar voice and a familiar smell, not to a stranger walking at it.
You get the flight log either way. If the search comes up empty you still get a record of exactly where I flew, which means you know where your animal is not and can point ground searchers somewhere useful.

Honest limits

What a thermal camera cannot do.

This matters more here than on any other job I do, because people in this situation are desperate and easy to sell to. Thermal sees heat. It does not see through things.

Anything solid in the way

Under a deck, in a culvert, inside a barn, beneath a parked car, in a crawlspace. If there is a roof over your animal, the camera cannot read it from above.

Heavy canopy

Thick summer foliage and dense pines block the view downward. After leaf drop the picture improves enormously.

Warm ground

On a hot afternoon the ground radiates nearly as much heat as the animal does, and the contrast the camera depends on collapses. Night is better. Midnight to dawn is better still.

Airspace limits

Controlled airspace near an airport needs authorisation, which takes time. Tell me the address when you call and I will know straight away.

Weather

Heavy rain, fog and high wind ground the aircraft. I will not fly a search I do not believe in just to collect a fee.

It is not a tracker

A drone finds an animal that is there, now. A scent-tracking dog team can tell you which direction one travelled hours ago. Those are different tools, and sometimes the dog is the right call.

While you wait

Things that help, and one that doesn't.

Stop the search party. A dozen people calling a frightened animal's name pushes it further out. One or two familiar voices, calm, is better than a crowd.
Put something of yours outside. A worn shirt, their bed or crate, by the door they know. Scent brings animals back more reliably than calling does.
Be careful with food left out. It can draw your animal back, but unattended food also draws raccoons and coyotes, which can push a hiding dog or cat out of the area entirely. Watch it if you put it out.
Post locally and honestly. Neighbourhood groups, the county shelter, nearby vets. Hold back one identifying detail so you can verify anyone who claims to have found them.
Write down the times. When they went missing, every confirmed sighting and where. That is what shapes the search area.

Pricing

The same structure as everything else I do.

$375 search

Up to two hours of flight time over the ground we agree on. Travel included inside 70 round-trip miles of Smiths Grove, then $1 per round-trip mile.

$100 if found

Charged only if the drone locates your animal. No find, no found fee — the call-out still applies, because the aircraft flew and the ground got covered.

Payment on arrival

In person, before takeoff. Never over the phone, never in advance, never through an app. If anyone asks you for that, it is not me.

Best-effort service. No recovery is guaranteed, locating is my job and catching is yours, and I will give you an honest read on your odds before you spend anything. Service animals and working dogs — call and we will work something out.

Questions

Straight answers before you call

How fast should I call?

Sooner is better, but late is not hopeless. A thermal camera finds a warm body, and a lost animal stays warm the whole time it is out there — unlike a deer recovery, where the clock is working against you. Animals have been found days after going missing. What changes with time is how far the search area has spread.

Will the drone scare my dog?

It can, which is why the aircraft stays high and does not hover over an animal once it is found. The job is to locate, confirm with the zoom camera, and give you a position — not to herd your dog around a field. A frightened animal that gets pushed covers more ground and gets harder to catch.

Who actually catches the animal?

You do. I find it and walk you in. A scared dog is far more likely to come to a familiar voice and a familiar smell than to a stranger, and the single most common way these go wrong is a well-meaning group rushing in and pushing the animal further out. I will tell you how to approach, and then stay out of the way.

What can thermal not see?

Anything solid between the camera the animal. Under a deck, inside a culvert, in a barn or outbuilding, under a car, beneath a thick summer canopy or dense pines. Thermal reads temperature difference, so it also struggles on a hot afternoon when the ground is as warm as the animal. Night and cold are when it works best, usually between midnight and dawn.

Do you search for livestock too?

Yes. Cattle, horses and goats out of a fence are often easier than a dog — bigger heat signature, usually in open ground, and they tend not to hide. For a working animal or a valuable head, the maths on a search is straightforward.

What does it cost?

$375 for a search of up to two hours, plus $100 only if the drone locates your animal. Travel is included inside 70 round-trip miles of Smiths Grove, then $1 per round-trip mile. No find, no found fee — but the call-out still applies, because the aircraft flew and the ground got covered.

Can you guarantee you'll find my pet?

No, and be careful of anyone who does. This is a best-effort search. What I can promise is an honest read on your odds before you spend anything, a systematic search of the ground we agree on, and a flight log showing exactly where I flew — so even an unsuccessful search tells you where your animal is not.

Animal missing right now?

Call and describe the situation. If a drone is the wrong tool for it, I will tell you that and point you at what isn't.

Call/Text 270-681-0756