Rescuers used drone technology to find a dog that escaped from a shelter van at a rest stop along the New Jersey Turnpike, an Associated Press report said.
Final Victory Animal Rescue said the dog, Abbie, was traveling from a South Carolina shelter to a planned new home in Maine as part of a group of dogs in a van. The van stopped at a service area in East Brunswick around 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the shelter.
Abbie ran off while the dogs’ handlers were letting them take a bathroom break, the report said. The dog was equipped with a tracking tag that would show her general location, and volunteers with the New Jersey-based Unmanned Search and Rescue drone team — which assists with pet search and rescue efforts as part of its mission — used thermal imaging from an unmanned drone to lead rescuers to her.
The report said rescuers located Abbie in a wooded area. Woodbridge Township police eventually rescued Abbie around 2 a.m. Sunday, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where she initially escaped. Abbie was described as cold and very fearful when officers found her, and police and rescuers said she had suffered a hip injury that would require surgery.
The report said Abbie had wandered for about 25 miles (40 kilometers) before she was found safe the next day. The USAR team also said the search-and-rescue operation was its 123rd dog rescue.
In a social media post late Monday night, Final Victory Animal Rescue said Maine was no longer in Abbie’s future. The shelter said Abbie was back in South Carolina and would be adopted by the Columbia family that had been fostering her.
The shelter wrote in the post: “With boots on the ground and eyes in the sky, Abbie was located and recovered safely.” It added: “A huge thank you to every agency involved for showing up when it mattered most.”