A dog was saved last week when someone thought outside the casing.
Millie, a 3-year-old Jack Russell-whippet mix, disappeared after slipping out of her leash in Hampshire, England, on Jan. 13, according to a Facebook post by Denmead Drone Search and Rescue, a nonprofit pet rescue group.
The group embarked on a four-day rescue attempt, but little Millie kept disappearing, Chris Taylor, the chair of the Denmead Drone Search and Rescue team, told HuffPost via email.
The situation became severe when the pup was spotted on a mud flat with a rapidly rising tide near Emsworth on the U.K.’s south coast. If Millie wasn’t rescued quickly, she would be at risk of drowning.
A coordinated effort involving police, firefighters and coastguards ensued, but Millie kept on defying rescue efforts. That’s when one of Denmead’s drone pilots, Dave Pike, came up with a creative solution — to attach sausage to a drone in order to lure Millie to safety.
“It was a crazy idea,” Taylor told The Guardian. But in an act of desperation, the drone rescue team calculated the weight that their vehicle could take and, after quick deliberation, figured it was their best shot.
“One of the local residents on the beach where we were flying from supplied us with the sausages – I think they were from Aldi,” Taylor told the Guardian. “The woman cooked them up for us and we attached them with string.”
Thankfully, Millie took the bait and was coaxed into a safer spot where she could be safely rescued.
“Millie was extremely brave,” Taylor told HuffPost. She also seemed very happy to see her humans.
“Millie was on her back licking [her owner] all over,” Taylor said.
After Millie’s little adventure, she was taken to the vet “and is completely fine,” the rescue group said on Facebook, adding:
“Lots of TLC, and rest [was the] only thing prescribed.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
