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A drone service provider in central Texas referred a lost pet owner to us to assist in the search for Soso, an Australian cattle dog.

Bottom line — Unfortunately, we were unable to locate Soso after searching the area by drone and on foot for several hours. But in this post, we’ll analyze how the thermal drone pet search process went. Hopefully you’ll learn something about the process.

Background on Soso

Soso was in the process of being rescued by a family in central Texas. During transport from Dallas (where Soso was sheltered) to the new owner, she got out of the vehicle and ran. This was atypical behavior for her, as she was said to have a fairly significant physical handicap that would make it difficult for her to run (or at least make it very far).

When we spoke to Soso’s new owner, they figured Soso was likely able to use the adrenaline rush to run off. After initially running, Soso was later spotted a short ways down the main road in the area.

When we were initially looped into the situation, Soso had been missing for a little over 48 hours. By the time we were able to begin the thermal drone search, she had been missing for close to 60 hours.

What Worked in our Favor

When searching for a lost animal with a thermal drone, it’s critical to maximize as many elements as possible that work to facilitate the search. Below we’ll discuss some of these things that we had going for us during this search.

Temperature

We opted to begin the search right around sunrise. At that time, the temperatures were in the low 20s Fahrenheit. For a thermal search, you can’t ask for better conditions.

Everything in the area was super cold, especially coming off a night (no solar loading taking place). Since a dog’s internal temperature is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, this temperature spread would make spotting Soso with the thermal sensor much easier than it would be in warmer conditions.

With that being said, it’s worth noting that this element is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Sub-freezing temperatures pose a significant hazard to lost animals who might be unable to find adequate shelter overnight.

Time of Day

As mentioned, we started the search at sunrise. This allowed us to maximize the benefits of the thermal camera (given the temperature element mentioned earlier) along with having adequate ambient light to facilitate the search (not using a drone-mounted search light in this case).

Depending on the scenario, doing the search at nighttime can be better, but in this case, we determined that sunrise/early morning would work best given the environment.

What Worked Against Us

In most lost animal drone searches, there will likely be at least one less-than-ideal element working against the process. In this search, there were a couple worth noting.

Time Missing

Soso had been missing for at least 48 hours at the time we were looped in on the process. As with any search and rescue attempt, the first 48 hours are the most critical.

Beyond that timeframe, the chances of a successful search dwindle. The longer the animal is missing, the greater the chances of things like the following become:

• The animal travels a significant distance away from the point where they went missing
• The animal is hit by a vehicle and gets injured or worse
• The animal succumbs to injuries/handicapped conditions
• The animal is stolen

From a search and rescue standpoint, each of these possibilities is obviously problematic. When the animal is still alive (which is often the case), the first scenario presents the biggest problem. If enough time passes, it’s possible that the animal has gone so far that there is no longer an effective, strategic way to execute a thermal drone search (or any kind of search for that matter).

In this case, Soso had barely passed the 48-hour mark, but still, two whole days being missing is significant, especially given Soso’s less-than-ideal physical state prior to escaping.

Note — If you’re a lost pet owner, to improve the odds of finding your pet, it’s critical to loop a thermal drone pilot in on the situation as soon as possible after the animal goes missing.

Environment/Terrain

Another element working against us in this case was the environment/terrain. This particular area was mostly suburban with some strip sections with stores, fast food places, etc. There were several apartment complexes nearby as well.

These environments simply aren’t the best use case for thermal drones in most scenarios. Thermal drone technology really shines in rural/wooded areas. However, the lost pet owner specifically wanted a thermal drone search, so we made the most of it.

There were some fairly heavily wooded areas surrounding this general area of interest, so the thermal drone was certainly beneficial when it came to efficiently searching these areas.

Airspace Restrictions

The area of interest was located in between KDAL and KRBD, so LAANC authorization was required for the majority of the area we searched. There were also some altitude restrictions associated with our search area; for much of the area, we were limited to 200 feet.

Though not catastrophic, these were still limitations that worked against us in the search process.

The End Result

As mentioned, the several hours we spent searching didn’t prove fruitful. Toward the end of the search, we saw a couple of dogs in a clearing in the middle of a wooded area, but they weren’t Soso. There were several homeless encampments nearby, so we figured these dogs were associated with those.

Although we weren’t able to locate Soso, our efforts weren’t entirely in vain. We provided the lost pet owner with a detailed map of the area we searched, so that information can now be leveraged to streamline further search efforts.

Read more about our lost pet search and recovery service.