You know what they say, dogs will do anything for treats.
A dog had to be lured to safety with a sausage after being trapped by the rising tide. Millie disappeared from sight when she broke away from her leash in Havant, Hampshire.
After a quick frantic search with help from the public, she was finally located. However, joy soon turned to worry as they realised that Millie was in danger of being swallowed by the incoming tide.
As the tide steadily rose, the situation looked bleak for the Jack Russell and Whippet crossed Millie. Emergency personnel and coastguards all attempted to remove her from danger. But Millie would not budge.
Millie got stranded on mudflats as the tide was coming in
So the rescuers came up with an ingenious way to lure her to safety. They would attach a sausage to a drone and hope the temptation of food would lure Millie to safety.
It worked!
Millie was soon reunited with her anxious owner after the scent of the floating sausage enticed Millie to reach higher ground.
Luckily, a local resident at the beach witnessing the rescue had a couple of sausages to spare. She cooked up the sausages and attached them to the drone using a string.
It’s about to go down
To make the rescue happen, the rescuers first had to check with the Civil Aviation Authority regulations to see if flying the drone at the location was allowed.
Next, they had to check if the drone was capable of flying with a sausage dangling underneath it. With both checks completed and the sausage firmly secured, the drone was ready to go.
To everyone’s delight, Millie took the bait.
The rescuers resorted to using food to lure Millie to safer ground as they were unable to reach her, even with a kayak. They couldn’t leave Millie there either, as the mudflats she was on would have been engulfed by the rising tide.
However, as Millie was hungry, using food to entice her away from the dangerous area worked. Now rescuers know they have another option when rescuing stranded animals.
While every situation and rescue operation will always be different, the rescue team knows that they could use the same tactic to lure the dog should a similar situation pop up again.
Millie couldn’t resist the smell of sausages
Millie’s owner, Emma Oakes, is just relieved to have her dog safe in her arms again. While the rescuers used sausages, Emma said that any food would have probably worked as Millie will eat anything you give her, including carrots and cucumbers.
However, meat is Millie’s favourite so using a sausage was probably the best food they could have chosen.
According to Emma, Millie loves to be at home so Millie was probably a bit scared out on the mudflats. And ever since she’s been back home, all Millie does is sleep. Sleep and eat. Eat and sleep. Pretty much just like any other dog.
You can watch the rescue here:
This isn’t the first time that a dog had to be rescued from a perilous position. Read how it took rescuers nearly 10 hours to rescue a trapped canine from a storm pipe.
